Opening “a new chapter” that could allow for the development of a lunar space station, NASA said Friday it had discovered water on the moon.

Project scientist Anthony Colaprete announced the discovery at a midday news conference.

He said, “I’m here today to tell you that indeed, yes, we found water. And we didn’t find just a little bit; we found a significant amount.”

The water discovered could fit into a dozen seven-liter buckets. Colaprete held up several white plastic containers to illustrate his point.

The find is based on preliminary data collected when the Lunar Crater Observation and Sensing Satellite, or LCROSS, intentionally crashed October 9 into the permanently shadowed region of Cabeus crater near the moon’s south pole.

Colaprete said that after the satellite struck, a rocket flew through the debris cloud, measuring the amount of water and providing a host of other data.

(article source: CNN, photo source: Animals Who Need Big Kisses)