Pictures of the two spectacular lunar impacts aimed at detecting water beneath the Moon's surface have been beamed back to Earth.

Two unmanned LCROSS rocket modules taking part in today's Nasa mission successfully hit their target at the Cabeus A crater near the moon's south pole. The impact kicked up huge plumes of dust which, over the coming days, scientists will analyse for indicators of large quantities of ice hidden beneath the pole.

Immediately after impact, Nasa announced the impact had gone according to plan and that the onboard instruments appeared to have worked correctly.

The first and more powerful impact of the Centaur module, a 2,200kg rocket around the size of a small car, occured at 12.31 GMT. It hit the south pole at roughly twice the speed of a bullet, throwing an estimated 350 metric tonnes of debris to altitudes of more than 6.2 miles.

The second “shepherding shuttle” followed closely in the Centaur's wake. It descended through the debris plume using an array of detectors to scour for ice before meeting the same fate as the first rocket just four minutes later. The second impact triggered a dust storm one-third the size of the first.

The impacts were visible from Earth using 10-12 inch telescopes and astronomical observatories, including the orbiting Hubble Space Telescope, also had their cameras trained on the event.

"When the impact occurs there is a brief flash that lasts about 100 milliseconds. The material that has been excavated by the event is lifted up and will fall back into the moon – back into the crater," explained Dr Kim Ennico, a Nasa scientist based at the Ames research centre in California, ahead of the impact.

The two components, which were launched from Cape Canaveral on June 18, separated in the early hours of this morning.

Confirming the existence of a plentiful and accessible supply of water-ice in the impact plume would be a major breakthrough for lunar exploration, in particular because it could indicate a vital resource for future manned missions.

Scientists believe that ice is most likely to reside at the lunar poles, where, protected from the Sun's rays, it could remain stable over hundreds of thousands of years.

In September, data from three spacecraft revealed that very fine films of water coat the particles which make up the lunar soil. However, it would be difficult to extract this water for practical use.

Speaking to a Nasa press conference ahead of the collision, Victoria Friedensen, the LCROSS program executive, said she was “exhilarated and a little sad” that the first phase of the mission was over.

The LCROSS probe cost $79 million (£49m) and was an add-on to a bigger NASA satellite now circling the moon.

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