WASHINGTON (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 27th October, 2020) A US-German infrared telescope operated from aircraft flying in the stratosphere nine miles high has confirmed the existence of water encased in glass beads on the sunlit surface of the Moon, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA ) said on Monday.
"NASA's Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy (SOFIA) has confirmed, for the first time, water on the sunlit surface of the Moon," the agency said in a press release. "This discovery indicates that water may be distributed across the lunar surface, and not limited to cold, shadowed places.
SOFIA detected water molecules in the Clavius Crater, one of the largest craters visible from Earth in the Moon's southern hemisphere in concentrations of 100 to 412 parts per million - equivalent to a 12-ounce bottle of water in a cubic meter of soil spread across the lunar surface, NASA explained.
"Prior to the SOFIA observations, we knew there was some kind of hydration. But we didn't know how much, if any, was actually water molecules - like we drink every day - or something more like drain cleaner," NASA scientist Casey Honniball of the Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, said.
NASA cautioned that the Sahara Desert has 100 times the amount of water than what SOFIA detected in the lunar soil. However, the upcoming Viper land rover unmanned expedition to the Moon will search for water up to three feet below the lunar surface, NASA said.
