NASA has confirmed that water can be found in sunlit regions of the Moon, including water that may be more widely distributed than originally thought, the agency reported Monday (Oct. 26).
NASA confirmed the discovery using the agency’s Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy (SOFIA), a flight test chamber. The observatory is a flight test chamber mounted on a specially modified Boeing 747 aircraft. Previously, it was believed that water molecules could only be found in the cooler regions of the lunar surface.
The results of the study are also published in the latest issue of Nature Astronomy.
NASA says that SOFIA detected water molecules at Clavius, in the southern hemisphere of the Moon. Clavius is one of the largest craters on the Moon visible from Earth. The data show that there are concentrations of water ranging from 100 to 412 parts per million (ppm), or about the equivalent of a 12-ounce bottle of water, locked in one cubic meter of soil and distributed throughout the lunar surface.
In contrast, NASA says, the Sahara Desert contains 100 times the amount of water that SOFIA detected in lunar soil. However, no matter how scarce the lunar water is, the discovery raises new questions about how the water is produced and how it can persist on the surface of the moon, where the environment is harsh and airless.
NASA plans to establish a sustainable human presence on the Moon by 2030, and NASA scientists say the new findings are encouraging.
When humans first landed on the moon in 1969, it was thought that the moon was completely waterless. Since then, however, observations from Earth and from spacecraft have shown evidence of the presence of ice and hydrates in different regions of the Moon. Prior to this new discovery, however, scientists were unable to distinguish in what form water exists.
Future SOFIA missions will look for water in more sunlit portions of the Moon and in different phases of the lunar phase to learn more about how water is produced, stored, and flows on the Moon. This data will be incorporated into the work of future lunar missions to map the first lunar water resources for future human space exploration.
Recent Comments