Last month, NASA set its sights on the moon. Forty years after the historic Apollo 11 landing and 37 years after the last American shook moon dust from his boot, our lunar neighbor is looming large in the imagination.

This time, the world's scientists are excited by a mile-high dust cloud kicked up when a NASA probe slammed into the moon's surface at 5,600 miles per hour on Oct. 9.

NASA commanded its Lunar Crater Observation and Sensing Satellite to crash in a pre-determined spot near the south pole. It was a suicide mission for the probe, but it had a purpose. Following the same trajectory five minutes later was a second probe. It flew through the plume of moon dust and debris kicked up by the first probe and beamed the data back to Earth.

After studying the results, NASA announced what everyone had waited to hear: There's water on the moon. What was once considered just a desolate rock is now seen as a potential source of rocket fuel and thirst-quenching water for a colony. Our "dead moon" may have enough of the Right Stuff to make a leap to the stars possible.

The discovery of water is the first step to justifying humanity's return to the moon, still at least a decade away. How much can ultimately be found and refined there will determine the practicality of moon bases, too.

Samuel Taylor Coleridge wrote: "Water, water everywhere, nor any drop to drink." But with a little chemistry, astronauts can not only drink this water but also use it to fly to Mars and beyond.

Cartoonist Rob Rogers does "Rob's Rough," an early look at his work and his creative process, exclusively at PG+, a members-only web site of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. Our introduction to PG+ gives you all the details.