NASA Announces Water Discovered on Sunlit Surface of the Moon

NASA claims to have discovered water on the moon’s sunny surface, Fox News reported on October 27.

NASA’s Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy (SOFIA) has confirmed, for the first time, water on the sunlit surface of the Moon. This discovery indicates that water may be distributed across the lunar surface, and not limited to cold, shadowed places.

The water was discovered near Clavius ​​crater, one of the moon’s largest craters and is visible to the naked eye, planetary scientist Paul Hayne, University of Colorado told an online press conference. Paul Hayne is the lead researcher of one of the published studies on the topic.

There are 100 to 400 parts per million water, or “roughly the equivalent of a 12-ounce (nearly 355ml) water bottle in one cubic meter of lunar soil,” said Casey Honniball, lead of another study.

“We had indications that H2O – the familiar water we know – might be present on the sunlit side of the Moon,” said Paul Hertz, director of the Astrophysics Division in the Science Mission Directorate at NASA Headquarters in Washington. “Now we know it is there. This discovery challenges our understanding of the lunar surface and raises intriguing questions about resources relevant for deep space exploration.”

“We’ve got indications that H2O, or water, may be present on the sunlit side of the moon” – Paul Hertz, director of Astrophysics in the porcelain board NASA’s scientific destiny, said.

“Now we know the water is there. This finding challenges our understanding of the lunar surface and raises intriguing questions about the resources involved in deep space exploration, “he added.

Research led by researcher Casey Honniball found the presence of water directly on the surface of the moon while Paul Hayne’s team found that water could be trapped in “scales. small space “all over the surface of the moon.

Researchers have long known about the existence of water on the moon. Steam was first discovered on the moon in 1971. In 2009, there was the first evidence of water freezing on the surface of the moon.

Jacob Bleacher, chief probe scientist on NASA’s human discovery and operations mission directorate, said the findings were “interesting to human discovery” but co-discovered. time is of greater significance. “Understanding where the water is will help us determine where to put Artemis astronauts on the moon,” he said.

Water may be much more accessible than previously thought, new studies note. Thus, water can be used for drinking, fueling and other uses.

Previously, water was only believed to appear in obscured areas, which did not receive the moon’s sunlight and thus became dangerous for astronauts to approach.

The latest NASA discovery of water on the moon has been made from the stratosphere Infrared Observatory – SOFIA – described as “the world’s largest aerial observatory”.

The SOFIA was originally a Boeing 747 modified to fly higher in the Earth’s atmosphere, allowing a 1.8m telescope to clearly see the universe and objects in the solar system. . The telescope from this observatory can also observe infrared wavelengths capable of detecting phenomena not visible to the naked eye.