Summarize this article:

East Texas county tells residents 'GET OUT OR DIE!'

 Emergency Management officials in Tyler County in East Texas posted a harrowing Facebook message Wednesday evening warning residents of imminent and deadly flooding.

 "The U.S. Army Corp of Engineers has advised the Tyler County office of Emergency Management that the flood gates were opened to 100 feet at 3:00 pm CSDST," wrote Tyler County Judge Jacques Blanchette. "River levels will rise to near seventy nine feet. With additional rain fall accumulations, a potential elevation could reach near eighty two feet."

 The alarming message said residents near the area must evacuate immediately.

 STORM DEATHS: Death toll from Harvey flooding exceeds 30

 "Anyone who chooses to not heed this directive cannot expect to be rescued and should write their social security numbers in permanent marker on their arm so their bodies can be identified," wrote Blanchette. "The loss of life and property is certain."

 The emergency advisory ended with the words "GET OUT OR DIE!" along with a phone number for anyone needing boat assistance or rescue.

 Tropical Storm Harvey made a second landfall in Louisiana early Wednesday. Along the way, it has dumped rain on east Texas communities, including Tyler County.

 AFTER HARVEY: How to help victims of the Texas storm

 According to the National Weather Service, communities in Southeast Texas received between 8-15 inches of rainfall as Harvey slowly made its way to Louisiana.

 In Harris County, an average of 27 inches fell on the region between Friday and Monday, with some spots receives a record 50 inches.

 See photos of the destruction and flooding caused by Harvey above. ||||| Evacuees escaping the floodwaters from Tropical Storm Harvey rest at the George R. Brown Convention Center that has been set up as a shelter in Houston, Texas, Tuesday, Aug. 29, 2017. (AP Photo/LM Otero) (Associated Press)

 HOUSTON (AP) — Major dangers for the U.S. Gulf Coast area loomed after an explosion at a Texas chemical plant early Thursday and the threat of major flooding further east near the Texas-Louisiana line as Harvey's floodwaters began receding in the Houston area after five days of torrential rain.

 Beaumont and Port Arthur, Texas, struggled with rising water as the area was pounded with what remained of the weakening storm, while Houston's fire department said it would begin a block-by-block search Thursday of thousands of flooded homes. Assistant Fire Chief Richard Mann said the searches were to ensure "no people were left behind."

 The confirmed death toll climbed to at least 31, including six family members — four of them children — whose bodies were pulled Wednesday from a van that had been swept off a Houston bridge into a bayou.

 "Unfortunately, it seems that our worst thoughts are being realized," Harris County Sheriff Ed Gonzalez said after the van that disappeared over the weekend was found in 10 feet of muddy water.

 The Houston-area chemical plant that lost power after Harvey engulfed the area in extensive floods was rocked by two explosions early Thursday, the plant's operator said. The Arkema Inc. plant had been left without refrigeration for chemicals that become volatile as the temperature rises.

 The Harris County Sheriff's Office said in a tweet that a deputy was taken to the hospital after inhaling fumes. Nine other deputies drove themselves to the hospital as a precaution.

 The company shut down the Crosby site before Harvey made landfall last week, but a crew of 11 had stayed behind. That group was removed and residents living within a 1.5-mile (2.4-kilometer) radius were told to evacuate Tuesday after the plant lost power.

 Another threat was emerging east of Houston where weather conditions deteriorated close to the Louisiana line.

 Beaumont and Port Arthur worked to evacuate residents after Harvey completed a U-turn in the Gulf of Mexico and rolled ashore early Wednesday for the second time in six days. It hit southwestern Louisiana as a tropical storm with heavy rain and winds of 45 mph.

 When Harvey paid its return visit to land, it hit near Cameron, Louisiana, about 45 miles from Port Arthur.

 Port Arthur found itself increasingly isolated as floodwaters swamped most major roads out of the city.

 More than 500 people — along with dozens of dogs, cats, a lizard and a monkey — took shelter at the Max Bowl bowling alley in the city, said the establishment's general manager, Jeff Tolliver.

 "The monkey was a little surprising, but we're trying to help," he said.

 Floodwaters also toppled two oil storage tanks in South Texas, spilling almost 30,000 gallons of crude. It was not immediately clear if any of the spilled oil was recovered. More damage to the oil industry infrastructure is expected to emerge as floodwaters recede.

 Forecasters downgraded Harvey to a tropical depression late Wednesday from a tropical storm but it still has lots of rain and potential damage to spread, with 4 to 8 inches (10 to 20 centimeters) forecast from the Louisiana-Texas line into Tennessee and Kentucky through Friday. Some spots may get as much as a foot, raising the risk of more flooding.

 For much of the Houston area, forecasters said the rain is pretty much over.

 "We have good news," said Jeff Lindner, a meteorologist with the Harris County Flood Control District. "The water levels are going down."

 Houston's two major airports were up and running again Wednesday. Officials said they were resuming limited bus and light rail service as well as trash pickup.

 At Hermann Park, south of downtown, children glided by in strollers and wagons, joggers took in midday runs and couples walked beside cascading fountains and beneath a sparkling sun. People pulled into drive-thru restaurants and emerged from a store with groceries.

 At the same time, many thousands of Houston-area homes are under water and could stay that way for days or weeks. And Lindner cautioned that homes near at least one swollen bayou could still get flooded.

 Officials said 911 centers in the Houston area are getting more than 1,000 calls an hour from people seeking help.

 Altogether, more than 1,000 homes in Texas were destroyed and close to 50,000 damaged, and over 32,000 people were in shelters across the state, emergency officials reported. About 10,000 more National Guard troops are being deployed to Texas, bringing the total to 24,000, Gov. Greg Abbott said.

 In Orange, Texas, about 30 miles east of Beaumont, residents of a retirement home surrounded by thigh-deep water were rescued by National Guardsmen and wildlife officers, who carried them from the second floor and put them aboard an airboat.

 Harvey initially came ashore as a Category 4 hurricane in Texas on Friday, then went back out to sea and lingered off the coast as a tropical storm for days, inundating flood-prone Houston.

 Harvey's five straight days of rain totaled close to 52 inches, the heaviest tropical downpour ever recorded in the continental U.S.

 ___

 Associated Press writers Frank Bajak, Matt Sedensky and Michael Graczyk in Houston; Diana Heidgerd and David Warren in Dallas; Seth Borenstein in Washington; Paul J. Weber in Austin, Texas; and Tammy Webber in Chicago contributed to this report.

 ___

 Sign up for AP's daily newsletter showcasing our best all-formats reporting on Harvey and its aftermath: http://apne.ws/ahYQGtb . ||||| As Tropical Storm Harvey continues to deluge homes and sweep vehicles off roads in Texas and Louisiana, at least 38 deaths have been reported. Officials in affected counties are starting to learn the victims’ identities and piece together the circumstances around their deaths.

 Here are details on some of those who died. This article will be updated.

 Image

 Andrew Pasek

 Andrew Pasek, 25, was always bringing home stray animals. There was Mali the puppy, his mother recalled, a tabby he called Blu and a Tibetan spaniel named Coco.

 So it surprised no one that on Tuesday, Andrew set out to retrieve his sister Alyssa’s cat, D’Artagnan, who had been left behind as the floodwaters rose in Houston.

 Andrew drove to the home with his childhood friend, Sean Stuart, and they began wading through several feet of water toward his sister’s two-story house.

 Suddenly, the two felt the jolt of an electrical current in the water, said Andrew’s mother, JoDell Pasek.

 “Years ago, Andrew had had an accident and broken his ankle severely, and he had plates and pins in his ankle,” she said. “All of that electricity started going to everything in his ankle and he started jumping around.”

 Andrew fell into a mailbox on a metal post. “He told Sean, ‘Get away from me, I’m dying,’” Ms. Pasek said, through tears. “He knew immediately that if Sean touched him, he would be electrocuted too.”

 Officials in Harris County attributed his death to accidental electrocution, the ninth confirmed storm death in the county.

 Sean’s mother called Ms. Pasek to tell her what had happened. “I get that phone call, my son is no longer alive,” she said. “I just started screaming. We’ve been friends since the kids were in kindergarten, so I know it was the hardest thing she had to do.”

 Gathered at home in Houston, Andrew’s family was left wondering if they could have stopped him from trying to rescue D’Artagnan.

 “We’ve all decided that no matter what we would have said, he would have gone anyway,” Ms. Pasek said. “That was just his nature.”

 Donald and Rochelle Rogers

 Thelma Hooker has barely begun to mourn her brother, Donald Rogers, 65, and his wife, Rochelle, 58, who drowned in floodwaters on Wednesday while driving their Toyota pickup truck to check on a relative.

 “It just don’t feel real,” she said.

 Ms. Hooker is mostly worried about their 91-year-old mother, Lola, who lives at home and is in poor health. The family has yet to tell her the news. Not today, they are thinking, not till they figure out how to say it.

 “I don’t want my mom to get sicker,” Ms. Hooker said. “We just can’t tell her right now.”

 Until then, they are screening phone calls and keeping the television turned off. Reports of the couple’s death have been on the news — he was a minister, a well-liked man, she said. Rochelle Rogers worked at a flower shop and was devoted to the couple’s church.

 On Wednesday, Mr. Rogers called Ms. Hooker to see how she was doing, telling her that he and Rochelle would be heading over to an uncle’s house to make sure he was safe. Somehow they drove into the raging floodwaters, the authorities said. They called 911 from the pickup, pleading for help.

 Ms. Hooker knows they cannot delay telling her mother much longer. “I know my mom, and she has an instinct,” she said. “She’s getting worried. It’ll have to be tomorrow.”

 The Saldivar family ||||| This 2014 photo provided by Virginia Saldivar shows her grandchildren Daisy, from left, Xavier and Dominic Saldivar, three of the four children presumed dead after their van sank into Greens Bayou on... (Associated Press)

 HOUSTON (AP) — Now that the sun is finally shining and the murky, brown floodwaters are slowly receding in much of the Houston area, grim reality is setting in.

 Harvey is about to release its dead.

 In Texas, the official death toll surpassed 30 on Wednesday and was expected to climb as authorities investigated several other deaths to determine whether they were storm-related. Officials fear that the number of fatalities will climb sharply in coming days as neighbors, emergency workers and family members search for the missing — and discover the bodies of people trapped in waterlogged homes or encased in underwater graves inside cars. And the death toll might rise even further in the recovery phase, from car crashes, carbon monoxide poisoning or other accidents during cleanup.

 "Historically all estimates of deaths are wrong in the beginning," said Craig Fugate, who was the Federal Emergency Management Agency director from 2009 until earlier this year.

 Already, the nation is shocked by the horrors revealed as the storm moves out of the area and east toward Louisiana and points north.

 The first confirmed fatality came early: A man in the Gulf coastal city of Rockport was killed in a fire late Friday as the storm raged ashore.

 On Wednesday, officials located a submerged van that seven members of a Houston family had been traveling in when it was swept off a bridge and into a storm-ravaged bayou. Samuel Saldivar told police he was trying to bring his elderly parents and his brother's four grandchildren to safety from their flooded home on Sunday when the van he was driving was tossed by a strong current into the bayou as it crossed the bridge. He escaped through a window but the six others were trapped when the van's partially submerged sliding door wouldn't open.

 Also Wednesday, authorities said 65-year-old Donald Rogers and his 58-year-old wife, Rochelle, drowned when they were swept away by a current after driving their pickup truck into floodwaters in a rural area southwest of Houston. Fort Bend County Sheriff's Maj. Chad Norvell said the couple was on the phone with 911 asking for help when the line went silent. When officers found the truck, it was completely submerged.

 On Tuesday afternoon, a 3-year-old girl was found alive in a rain-swollen canal, clinging to the body of her drowned mother in Beaumont, Texas. A second woman was confirmed dead in Beaumont on Wednesday.

 Earlier Tuesday, the body of 61-year-old Houston Police Sgt. Steve Perez was found in his car. He'd been swept down a flooded road as he drove to his precinct, determined to serve his community.

 Eleven other confirmed deaths, some of which were listed on a Harris County database, showed people were found floating in waters — some in homes or businesses, others near cars. Among those victims was Ruben Jordan, a high school basketball coach, who was last seen late Saturday helping people through floodwaters. His family was informed on Monday that he had died in the floods.

 "The sad thing is, of the deaths we've seen, we're going to see more, unfortunately," said Jeff Schlegelmilch, the deputy director of the National Center for Disaster Preparedness at Columbia University. "That number doesn't stop moving up until we're well into the recovery phase."

 No official number of the missing has been released, and a spokesman for the Harris County Sheriff's Office, where Houston is located, said there isn't a specific strategy in place to look for additional bodies.

 "We are going to go out and try to find any potential victims that may be there," said the spokesman, Jake Smith. "We are also encouraging the public if they come across anything, we strongly urge them to call 911 if they find a body or a potential victim."

 Houston Police Chief Art Acevedo said the department had received 47 missing persons reports since Harvey inundated the city and 27 of those individuals have been located.

 Photos with pleas for help have been posted on social media, cut-and-pasted and retweeted by thousands of people as desperate family members seek loved ones they fear may be dead — but who may only have a cellphone without power. The uncertainty is terrifying.

 One of the worries, said Schlegelmilch, is that many of the severely flooded neighborhoods weren't in evacuation areas.

 Additionally, the people most likely to be found dead are the elderly, the infirm and the people who were isolated from others — along with folks who didn't have the means or wherewithal to flee. Sometimes it's a matter of having the strength to wade through floodwaters a few blocks to safety, or to pull one's self up onto a roof.

 "Those who are the most vulnerable when the sky is blue, they are also the most vulnerable when the sky is gray," Schleglemilch said.

 Fugate, the former FEMA head, said it's also common for people to die during the recovery phase, when stress levels are high and people aren't making clear-headed decisions.

 "Stay safe, stay home, stay off the roads if you can. Don't go sightseeing," he warned.

 Still, experts say there is some good news: They don't expect the death toll from Harvey to come anywhere close to that of Katrina, when 1,800 people died. Many of those flood-related fatalities came when a levee broke and water inundated New Orleans. People were stranded in extreme heat and the federal response was slow. Emergency managers learned painful lessons during Katrina, and have put those lessons to use in this storm.

 Residents of New Orleans during Katrina saw top-to-bottom failures at every level, experts said.

 During Harvey, "state and local officials and FEMA were mobilizing, water rescue teams were prepared, in anticipation of this," said Fugate, adding that safe shelters were almost immediately in place for Texas residents, unlike New Orleans. "That provided faster rescues."

 One other thing seems to have helped Houston in its time of need: the residents themselves.

 "Neighbors helping neighbors," Fugate said. "That will keep the death toll down."

 ___

 Follow Tamara Lush on Twitter at Http://twitter.com/tamaralush |||||

– A Facebook warning from emergency management officials in Texas' Tyler County shows just how dire the effects of Harvey continue to be. Citing rising flood levels, the post late Wednesday warned everyone in affected areas to evacuate immediately. "Anyone who chooses to not heed this directive cannot expect to be rescued and should write their social security numbers in permanent marker on their arm so their bodies can be identified," the message read, per the Houston Chronicle. "The loss of life and property is certain," it continued. The final words read, "GET OUT OR DIE!” though they have since been removed. In Fort Bend County, officials also announced mandatory evacuation orders near Buffalo Bayou early Thursday, per the AP. Harvey, downgraded from a tropical storm to a tropical depression late Wednesday, is still expected to deliver 4 to 8 inches of rain into parts of Texas and Louisiana as well as Tennessee and Kentucky through Friday. The death toll continues to climb and now stands at 38, reports the New York Times. "The sad thing is, of the deaths we've seen, we're going to see more," the deputy director of the National Center for Disaster Preparedness tells the AP. "That number doesn't stop moving up until we're well into the recovery phase." With floodwaters receding in Houston, officials have begun searching thousands of flooded homes for bodies. The effort could take up to two weeks with 911 centers still fielding more than 1,000 calls per hour, the AP reports.


Article:
THE Alaska Senate race won't be officially decided until later this month—officials have to go through all the ballots, smoothing out the grizzly-bear tooth-marks and brushing off stray eagle feathers—but as of this morning, it looks like Lisa Murkowski has accomplished the unlikely feat of being elected as a write-in candidate. Ms Murkowski is the incumbent, but lost the Republican primary this year to the tea-party candidate Joe Miller, who is pals with and was heavily promoted by Sarah Palin.

 The outcome won't affect the balance of power in the Senate, but it is a blow to Mrs Palin, who presented herself as a political kingmaker this election season, with decidedly mixed results. If there were any race in which Mrs Palin's influence should have tipped the scales, it would have been this one. This is her home state, she never stops talking about it, she used to be the governor of it, Mr Miller did get through the Republican primary, the Murkowski brand does have a lot of baggage in Alaska and, for pete's sake, Ms Murkowski had to run as a write-in. That her candidate lost is a measure of Mrs Palin's own reduced standing in Alaska. The past two years have taken her further from the state, physically and philosophically—Mrs Palin is more socially conservative than the state as a whole, and I doubt many Alaskans share the normative cultural anxiety that recurs in her public statements.

 Outside of Alaska, though, the picture is not much better. Mrs Palin endorsed 60 candidates around the country; as of now, with a handful of races still uncalled, slightly fewer than half of them won. And I'm hesitant to look at endorsements as a measure of influence, because the value of most endorsements is marginal at most; Mary Fallin, a Republican congresswoman from Oklahoma, hardly needed Mrs Palin's touch to pick up the governor's house from the term-limited Democrat Brad Henry. Looking over the year, Mrs Palin was most effective when she brought a much-needed infusion of money and attention to a lagging candidate early in the process, as with Nikki Haley in South Carolina and Christine O'Donnell in Delaware—but the effects did not always carry through to election day.

 On balance, Mrs Palin undermined her potential credibility by focusing on politics rather than policy, by gambling on a slew of high-profile endorsements (which kept her on television, at campaign events) rather than trying to find and nurture a handful of intellectual or philosophical protegees. Her "mama grizzlies" concept was a clever bit of branding, but the campaign never advanced beyond identity politics.

 Having defined herself as an intrinsically political figure, Mrs Palin is bound by the rules of that game. And so she emerges from the 2010 cycle as a diminished national figure. This is partly the natural career progression of an also-ran: you get a special standing as the face of the opposition, until the next election cycle creates a new set of faces. So now the spotlight swings to people like Rand Paul and Marco Rubio, who in addition to being the face of the opposition are actually, having been in elected, in a position to do something about it. As for Mrs Palin, we won't hear so much from her until she makes a decision about 2012.

 (Photo credit: AFP) ||||| Sarah Palin endorsed 60 candidates this year, but when dust settled Wednesday morning, the biggest beneficiary of the “Sarah Palin effect” was not necessarily the candidates themselves, but the Palin brand.

 Of the 34 candidates Palin endorsed for the House, only 15 won, a less-than-stellar average for someone vying to be the difference-maker in Republican politics.

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 She did endorse one giant killer, Vicky Hartzler, who took down veteran Democrat and House Armed Services Chairman Committee Ike Skelton of Missouri. Michael Grimm, who took out New York Democrat Michael McMahon, gave Palin another marquee win. But on the Senate side, only five of her 12 choices were successful – with the most embarrassing stumble potentially being her home-state pick of Joe Miller, who is knotted with Palin foe Lisa Murkowski in a tight battle that could end in a weeks-long recount.

 GOP strategists and observers, however, emphasize that Palin didn’t necessarily choose whom to support based on electability – rather, she backed candidates who aligned with her philosophically. In doing so, she continued to boost the brand that has made her a star among conservatives and raised her name identification with everyone else, regardless of the final scorecard.

 “I think the process has done enough,” said Ed Rollins, Republican campaign consultant and former chairman of Mike Huckabee’s presidential campaign. “She's got the most valuable asset anybody can have in politics, and that's name ID — she has negatives, sure, because she's such a polarizing figure — but among the grassroots, the people who will vote in primaries, she's a star.”

 Rollins likened Palin’s 2010 push to Richard Nixon’s campaign swing across the country in 1966, when Nixon positioned himself for another presidential run in 1968 after his loss to John F. Kennedy by stumping for congressional candidates nationwide, helping to lift the GOP to a 47-seat gain.

 “No one remembers who won or lost, only that he was out there,” Rollins said.

 Palin has gone beyond just putting herself “out there,” though. Other potential GOP 2012 presidential hopefuls have hit the trail hard, including Rudy Giuliani and Mitt Romney, but none have drawn the sort of attention and media craze as Palin. Among Republican campaign observers, many believe only Haley Barbour, chairman of the Republican Governors Association, has done better building goodwill for himself this cycle with an eye toward the next.

 And though Tuesday’s tally — 27 victories, 15 losses and eight undecided races in all, following 10 primary losses — did not make a clearer case for a Palin presidential run, her supporters feel excited about what her involvement has done to conservative candidates across the country and what she could do in two years.

 Many point to Palin's decision not to surround herself with a deep professional staff as one of the reasons she deserves the credit for her outsized influence, but also an explanation as to why she didn't enjoy a higher success rate Tuesday. Palin seems to have been the architect of many of her own decisions — which some say earns her more loyalty from her chosen candidates but also affected her win total.

 Perhaps no two races were more symbolic of Palin's mixed efforts to take down prominent progressives than her candidates’ success in taking down a 30-year veteran like Skelton, and her failure in Massachusetts, where Sean Bielat fell significantly short of knocking off House Financial Services Chairman Barney Frank.

 In Senate contests, she supported Rand Paul, Pat Toomey and John Boozman; but she also backed Sharron Angle, Christine O'Donnell and John Raese. |||||Summary:

– Sarah Palin is looking like one of the biggest non-Democratic losers in the midterm elections, according to some analysts. High-profile losses among the candidates she endorsed, especially in Alaska, where Lisa Murkowski appears bound for victory as a write-in candidate, are likely to undermine her credibility, the Economist notes. It predicts that we'll be hearing less from Palin—at least until she makes her 2012 ambitions clear—as the spotlight turns to rising stars who have actually been elected, like Rand Paul and Marc Rubio. GOP strategists, however, say that while Palin's "Mama Grizzlies" may not have been big winners, the Palin brand definitely came out ahead. "She's got the most valuable asset anybody can have in politics, and that's name ID," Republican campaign consultant Ed Rollins tells Politico, comparing Palin's efforts in 2010 to Richard Nixon's campaigning on behalf of GOP candidates in 1966 ahead of his successful bid for the White House in 1968 . "No one remembers who won or lost, only that he was out there," Rollins says.


Write a summary based on this article:

Credit: NASA

 SYDNEY: Water originating from solar winds has been found in the Moon’s soil, U.S. researchers have announced.

 Water on the Moon is not a new discovery – there are known sources in craters at the polar regions – but this finding has revealed a new source: the solar winds.

 In a report published in Nature Geoscience, researchers claimed that hydrogen ejected from the Sun’s atmosphere is carried in solar winds and implanted in the lunar soil, where it reacts with oxygen already present on the Moon’s surface.

 Colonising the Moon

 The finding could be a useful resource for future human settlement on the Moon, according to Yang Liu from the University of Tennessee, lead author of the paper.

 “Now we have ready sources of water that can not only be consumed by plants and humans, but also electrolysed into its constituent elements – hydrogen and oxygen – to make rocket fuel,” she said.

 However, geochemist Ross Taylor from the Australian Academy of Science, who was not involved in the research, said harvesting water from lunar soil would be complicated and using it for human settlement probably unrealistic.

 “I think it’s a pretty long shot, extracting the water might be as much trouble as it’s worth,” he said.

 Water origin unknown until now

 With no atmosphere to protect it, the lunar surface is buffeted by solar winds and comet collisions, which create a soil of crushed materials called the ‘regolith’.

 Researchers analysed a collection of cemented regolith grains – a glass-like material – to find reacting hydrogen and oxygen molecules which they attributed to solar winds.

 Three independent studies observed water on the surface of the Moon in 2009, but the origin was unknown until now, said Liu.

 “We did have the understanding that the Moon is a very dry place, what this work has done is look at a new source of lunar water,” added planetary scientist Michele Bannister from Australian National University (ANU) in Canberra, who was not involved in the study.

 “The researchers have proved you can generate water on the surface of the Moon purely from the impact of the wind of the Sun,” she said.

 Beyond the snow line

 Initially, it was believed all water in the inner Solar System was delivered via icy bodies such as micrometeorites or comets that came from further out in space – beyond the ‘snow line’ where it is cold enough for water to condense.

 Having established another source of water that originates at the centre of the Solar System, the report said it “reshapes this perspective”.

 It is also not known what percentage of the lunar soil contains water, and Bannister said a bigger sample is needed.

 “What they’re working with is a tiny fraction of lunar soil brought back by the Apollo missions, so it’s very hard to generalise from a couple of grains of sand – or glass, which is essentially what they have,” she said.

 Water in the Universe

 Liu said a source of water in the solar winds “emphasises the possibility of finding water on the surface of other similar airless bodies”.

 “It extends our concept of the presence of water in the inner Solar System,” she said.

 Although the study has introduced a new source of water relevant to the wider universe, Taylor explained it is really just chemistry.

 “It’s a very interesting scientific finding and it takes a lot of modern technology and instrumentation to reach that, but it doesn’t alter the overall picture,” he said.

 “The reason everyone’s interested in water is partly because water has a sort of ‘sacred cow’ status. It’s essential to life as we know it and this gives it importance, but it’s just another chemical compound.” ||||| SPACE.com reader George Garcia sent in his photo of the September 2012 harvest moon taken on Sept. 29, 2012, in Montebello, CA.

 Glass beads within moon rocks suggest that water seen on the lunar surface originates from the solar wind, researchers say.

 These findings suggest that other airless bodies in the solar system may also possess water on their surfaces, investigators added.

 Arguments raged for years as to whether the moon harbored frozen water or not. Recent findings confirmed that water does wet the moon, although its surface remains drier than any desert on Earth.

 "With the cost of $25,000 for taking one pint of water to the moon, it is essential that we develop processes of producing water from the materials on the moon," said the study's lead author, Yang Liu, at the University of Tennessee at Knoxville. "This is paramount to human settlement of the moon in the near future." [Gallery: Our Changing Moon]

 "This water would be of most value as rocket fuel — liquid hydrogen and liquid oxygen," Liu added. "Until the recent discovery of water in and on the moon, this was going to be a very energy-intensive endeavor to separate these elements from the lunar rocks and soil. Now we have ready sources of water that can be consumed by plants and humans, but also broken up into its constituent elements — oxygen and hydrogen. Thus, we could use the moon as a jump-board for missions to Mars and beyond."

 It remained uncertain where all of this water might come from, although some apparently came from ice-rich comets. To find out more, scientists analyzed lunar surface dust, or regolith, that astronauts on the Apollo missions brought from the moon.

 "Most samples actually come from an Apollo 11 soil collected by Neil Armstrong," Liu told SPACE.com.

 Lunar regolith is created by meteoroids and charged particles constantly bombarding lunar rock. The researchers focused on grains of glass in the samples that were created in the heat of countless micrometeoroid impacts on the moon. They reasoned this glass might have captured any water in the regolith before it cooled and solidified.

 The investigators found that a large percentage of this glass contained traces of wetness — between 200 and 300 parts per million of water and the molecule hydroxyl, which is much like water, save that each of its molecules possesses just one hydrogen atom, not two.

 To figure out where this water and hydroxyl originated from, the scientists looked at their hydrogen components. Hydrogen atoms come in a variety of isotopes, each with a different number of neutrons in their nuclei — regular hydrogen has no neutrons, while the isotope known as deuterium has one in each atomic nucleus.

 The sun is naturally low in deuterium because its nuclear activity rapidly consumes the isotope. All other objects in the solar system possess relatively high levels of it, remnants of deuterium that existed in the nebula of gas and dust that gave birth to the solar system.

 The researchers found that the water and hydroxyl seen in the lunar glass were both low in deuterium. This suggests their hydrogen came from the sun, probably blasted onto the moon via winds of charged particles from the sun, which continuously streams from the sun at a rate of 2.2 billion pounds (1 billion kilograms) per second. The moon, lacking a significant atmosphere or magnetic field, slowly captures all the particles striking it. The hydrogen particles then bonded with oxygen bound in rocks on the lunar surface.

 "The origin of surface water on the moon was unclear," Liu said. "We provide robust evidence for a solar wind origin. This finding emphasizes the potential in finding such water on the surface of other similar airless bodies, such as Eros, Deimos, Vesta."

 The scientists detailed their findings online Sunday (Oct. 14) in the journal Nature Geoscience.

 Follow SPACE.com on Twitter @Spacedotcom. We're also on Facebook & Google+.

 For most of human history, the moon was largely a mystery. It spawned awe and fear and to this day is the source of myth and legend. But today we know a lot about our favorite natural satellite. Do you? Start the Quiz 0 of 10 questions complete |||||

– There is water on the moon, and it comes from an unlikely source: the sun. That's the conclusion of a new study, after studying soil samples brought back from the original Apollo 11 mission, Cosmos reports. While studies dating back to 2008 have pointed to the existence of water on the moon, until now no one was sure where it came from. Now, University of Tennessee researchers believe that solar winds carry hydrogen ejected from the sun's atmosphere to the moon. The study will force scientists to rethink the conventional wisdom that water in the inner solar system generally comes from icy meteors or comets. This more reliable source of water could make a lunar colony more feasible, the lead author says. "This water would be of most value as rocket fuel—liquid hydrogen and liquid oxygen," she tells Space.com. "We could use the moon as a jump-board for missions to Mars and beyond." Others aren't as sure. "Extracting the water might be as much trouble as it's worth," one independent geochemist warns.


Article:
The former Army captain who received the Medal of Honor on Tuesday has asked to return to active duty in the Army, a rare move by an officer who has lived to wear the military's highest award.

 Two U.S. officials tell The Associated Press that William D. Swenson has submitted a formal request to the Army and officials are working with him to allow his return.

 Swenson was awarded the Medal of Honor by President Barack Obama in the White House Tuesday afternoon for risking his life to recover bodies and save fellow troops during a lengthy battle against the Taliban in Afghanistan near the Pakistan border in 2009.

 The U.S. officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the request until a decision was made.

 Swenson, 34, left the military in February 2011 as a captain, but he could rise to the rank of major once he rejoins. In order to successfully re-enlist, Swenson will have to pass a physical, a drug test and other routine reviews. But officials Tuesday were optimistic it would all fall into place.

 In the aftermath of 9/11, when the Army was growing in size to meet the combat requirements of the Iraq and Afghanistan wars, it was not unusual for former soldiers to rejoin the service and go back on active duty. It is rare, if not unprecedented, for an officer holding the Medal of Honor, to do so. Officials were unsure if that had ever happened before.

 Swenson also has a Purple Heart and Bronze Star Medal and lives in Seattle. ||||| ADVERTISEMENT

 After nearly being overlooked, and according to some accounts intentionally forgotten, Army Capt. William Swenson received the Medal of Honor at an emotional White House ceremony Tuesday for his heroic actions during the 2009 Battle of Ganjgal in eastern Afghanistan.

 Ganjgal was one of the bloodiest battles of the 12-year war. Ambushed by the Taliban, coalition forces were pinned down for nine hours. The fight ended with five U.S. deaths, 10 Afghan army deaths and over two-dozen coalition wounded.

 Late Tuesday, Fox News confirmed reports that Swenson, who since leaving the Army in 2011 has spent much of his time in the wilderness of Washington state, has asked the Army to return him to active duty -- a rare request for a Medal of Honor recipient. An Army spokesman said, "We are reviewing his request and processing it within established policy."

 The ceremony Tuesday marked only the second time in half a century that the nation's highest award for valor has been given to two survivors of the same battle. In 2011, Marine Sgt. Dakota Meyer, who fought alongside Swenson, received the same medal for his actions at Ganjgal.

 But Swenson's battle didn't end in Ganjgal. After the firefight, he bitterly complained about incompetence in the ranks, suggesting to Army investigators and reporters that his commanders decided the political risk of civilian casualties outweighed the need to protect the lives of Americans.

 Swenson said his multiple requests for air support were denied as he repeatedly put his life at risk to save his fallen and wounded comrades.

 A year-and-a-half after the battle, an Army investigation resulted in career-ending reprimands for two of the officers responsible for fielding Swenson's calls for help.

 Swenson told Fox News on Tuesday that while "you can have misunderstandings" and disagreements with individuals, "the institution cannot let you down."

 "The Army did not let me down," he said.

 Describing the ceremony on Tuesday, he said: "I looked into a room that was there to support me, but I was there to support them, and I will continue to be there to support them. My colleagues, families of the fallen -- it was a powerful moment."

 President Obama described Swenson's actions at the ceremony Tuesday. "Will and the soldiers in the center of the column are pinned down. Rocket propelled grenades, mortar, machine gun fire -- all of this is pouring in from three sides. As he returns fire, Will calls for air support, but his initial requests are denied."

 Obama continued: "And then Will learns that his non-commissioned officer, Sergeant 1st Class Kenneth Westbrook, has been shot in the neck. So Will breaks across 50 meters of open space, bullets biting all around. Lying on his back, he presses a bandage to Kenneth's wounds with one hand, and calls for a medevac with the other, trying to keep his buddy calm."

 Dramatic helmet-cam video released by the Army shows Swenson lift his badly wounded comrade into a medevac chopper, stopping to kiss him on the forehead before returning to the fight. Westbrook's wife would later thank Swenson for helping keep him alive long enough so that she could say her final goodbyes.

 Initially, the Army began to process Swenson for the Medal of Honor, compiling a comprehensive account of his actions that day. But as Meyer received his award in 2011, suspicion arose about why Swenson's name had not come up at the White House. The Army later claimed it "lost" the phonebook-sized Medal of Honor nomination packet on Swenson. The veracity of that claim is now the subject of an ongoing Army inspector general's investigation.

 Rep. Duncan Hunter, R-Calif., who has been a strong advocate for Swenson, says the packet wasn't lost, but rather it was purposefully destroyed.

 "His record got deleted," Hunter, an Iraq war veteran, told Fox News in an interview Tuesday. "I mean, somebody went in and took his Medal of Honor nomination and deleted it from the awards database. That means that somebody in the Army did not want him to get the Medal of Honor."

 Hunter claims it was an act of retribution against Swenson for speaking out about his commanders. Hunter and his staff were instrumental in pressuring the Army to reinstate Swenson's application for the Medal of Honor. ||||| Story highlights William Swenson is the sixth living recipient from the Afghan and Iraq wars

 Swenson was honored for his action on September 8, 2009, in the Ganjgal Valley

 He braved enemy fire to retrieve the bodies of dead soldiers, Obama says

 He criticized his commanders for failing to support soldiers during the battle

 A shaky video captured only a few moments of William D. Swenson's actions during a brutal, hours-long battle in Afghanistan: Kissing a badly wounded comrade on the forehead as he helped load the soldier into a helicopter.

 "This may be the first time we bear witness to a small portion of the action" of a Medal of Honor recipient, President Barack Obama said Tuesday as he awarded the now-retired Army captain the nation's highest military honor for his actions in the Ganjgal Valley in 2009.

 Swenson, 34, of Seattle, is the sixth living recipient from the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan to earn the honor, and this is only the second time in a half-century that two men from the same battle have been awarded the medal.

 Swenson, who retired from the Army in 2011, is being awarded the medal for his actions on September 8, 2009, in the Battle of the Ganjgal Valley in Afghanistan's Kunar province. The battle claimed the lives of four American soldiers, 10 Afghan soldiers and an Afghan interpreter.

 A fifth soldier, Sgt. First Class Kenneth Westbrook -- the man Swenson helped load onto the helicopter -- later died from his wounds.

 JUST WATCHED Meet William Swenson Replay More Videos ... MUST WATCH Meet William Swenson 02:20

 Swenson was working with Afghan security forces in the volatile Kunar province near Pakistan's border when he and his troops came under fire.

 Obama recounted to an audience of fellow soldiers and families of the fallen how Swenson braved enemy fire again and again to recover the bodies of the dead Americans and Afghans.

 "In moments like this, Americans like Will remind us of what our country can be at its best, a nation of citizens who look out for one another, who meet our obligations to one another not just when it's easy, but also when it's hard," Obama said. "Maybe, especially when it's hard."

 Part of Swenson's rescue efforts were recorded by a rescue pilot's helmet camera. In the heat of battle, with bullets flying and dust blocking any clear vision of the surrounding situation, Swenson is seen helping Westbrook, who had been shot in the throat, back to a helicopter.

 After placing him in the helicopter, Swenson bent down to kiss his forehead before running back to the battle to retrieve other fallen Americans and Afghan fighters.

 "I was just trying to keep his spirits up. I wanted him to know it was going to be OK. And I wanted him to know that he had done his job, but it was time for him to go," Swenson told CNN recently.

 The road to this honor has not been easy for Swenson, whose nomination was "lost" for a time, prompting questions from lawmakers and an eventual internal Pentagon investigation.

 Swenson spoke out after the 2009 battle, criticizing his leadership for failing to provide him with adequate air support after multiple radio requests. The Army later backed up his claims, reprimanding two commanding officers.

 "What happened that day was a result of clouded judgment," Swenson told CNN's Barbara Starr in a recent interview. "It was a result of clouded judgment on behalf of people who did later receive letters of reprimand."

 The nomination statement, once found, was nothing short of glowing for Swenson, saying the soldier "braved intense enemy fire, and willfully put his life in danger against the enemy's main effort, multiple times in service of his fallen and wounded comrades, his unit, his country, and his endangered Afghan partners."

 Army officials confirmed to CNN that Swenson has filed paperwork to return to Army active duty.

 Dakota Meyer, a Marine, was honored for his actions in the same battle in 2011. |||||Summary:

– Former Army Capt. Will Swenson received the nation's highest military honor today for rescuing fellow soldiers under heavy fire in Afghanistan a few years ago, reports CNN. And in a rare move, the 34-year-old has formally asked the Army to return him to active duty, reports AP. Generally speaking, Medal of Honor recipients are out of action, but it looks like Swenson will be back in uniform fairly soon. Swenson left the military in 2011, two years after the actions during a firefight in Afghanistan's Ganjgal valley that earned him his medal. "In moments like this, Americans like Will remind us of what our country can be at its best," said President Obama at today's ceremony, as quoted by Fox News.