Home » Technology » We have been waiting for this for years. NASA discovers water on the moon

We have been waiting for this for years. NASA discovers water on the moon

“Using the SOFIA telescope, we confirmed the presence of water on the Moon’s exposed side. We do not know yet whether we will be able to treat it as a resource, but knowing it exists is extremely important in the context of the Artemis lunar exploration program,” NASA CEO Jim Bridenstine wrote on Twitter .

Water was discovered at the Clavius ​​Crater. It is located to the south of the moon and is visible from Earth. According to NASA, the water could have appeared thanks to fragments of meteorites falling on its surface. Another hypothesis is that the Sun contributes to the formation of water on the Silver Globe.

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50th anniversary of the moon landing and Apollo 11 space mission.

NASA gave some exciting news

Last week, NASA released a note in which the agency assured that it had made an “exciting new discovery”. Today we know that this is an absolutely unprecedented case, of great importance in the context of the Artemis mission, which will bring humans back to the surface of our globe’s natural satellite in 2024.

The discovery was made with the help of the Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy (SOFIA), a rather unusual aerial astronomical observatory that we can call a “flying telescope”.

“Flying Telescope” SOFIA

SOFIA is a telescope created by NASA and the German Space Agency, equipped with a mirror with a diameter of 2.5 meters, mounted on board a modified Boeing 747 – one of the largest passenger aircraft in the world.

Observations with SOFIA are carried out in infrared light at an altitude of over 12 km. A significant amount is crucial here, because it allows you to avoid 99 percent. water vapor in the air, and it is this vapor that largely absorbs infrared radiation. Thanks to the elevation of the telescope above the densest layers of the atmosphere, it is therefore possible to perform much more precise tests.

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