SAN ANTONIO -- For the past few months, NASA's Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter has been collecting data with the help of a sensor built and designed by the Southwest Research Institute.

The sensor is called Lymon-Alpha Mapping Project (LAMP). Lymon-Alpha is a type of ultraviolet light that allows LAMP to scan the dark regions of the lunar surface. The LAMP sensor is being used to scan for frost on the Moon's surface.

"Because frost on the surface would reflect that Lymon-Alpha light differently than the dirt will," said Dr. Randy Gladstone, LAMP acting principal investigator. "We can tell if there is frost there by seeing changes in the signal as we fly over these craters."

If abundant amounts of frost can be found, that could be converted to water, and be used as a resource for future manned missions on the Moon.

"If we ever plan to go back to the Moon and establish a base there," said Gladstone, "that water would come in really handy for the people living there. It's very expensive to to bring stuff with you from Earth all the way to the Moon."

Gladstone said that water could also be broken down into hydrogen and oxygen, and used for the manufacture of rocket fuel for return flights to Earth.

This isn't the only sensor of its kind. The Southwest Research Institute has several similar sensors currently in flight to places like Saturn and Pluto.