Water on the moon

Following on from my last post, The Economist writes that water has been confirmed to exist on the moon. As they rightly point out, it's not really all that amazing when you consider water is made from the commonest element in the universe (hydrogen) and the third most common (oxygen). However, as part of Constellation program NASA intends to build a lunar outpost between 2019-2024 and water matters. With it there is drinking water, oxygen to breath, hydrogen rocket fuel and liquid oxygen to burn that fuel. Having available in orbit around the earth makes subsequent space exploration and exploitation much easier and cheaper.