The question of whether LCROSS would find water had been stated to be influential regarding whether the United States government pursues creating a Moon base. On 13November 2009, NASA confirmed that water was detected after the Centaur impacted the crater. The LCROSS Centaur kinetic energy impactor was underpowered and therefore only partially successful, having not produced the expected earth visible flash, nor succeeding in excavating and vaporizing enough subsurface material for a complete lunar soil spectral analysis, that would identify the lunar soil composition to a great depth.