[ad_1]
NASA will announce an exciting new discovery about the Moon on Monday, October 26, 2020.
NASA is about to announce an exciting new discovery about the Moon. This “mystery of the Moon” is something that has been speculated about all weekend, and on Monday we will finally find out what it is.
It would appear to be something that could aid NASA’s planned manned landings on the Moon, suggesting it may be related to water or water vapor, which could be used during lunar exploration.
That’s because it’s a discovery from NASA’s Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy (SOFIA), a “flying telescope” that focuses on making discoveries about the atmosphere of planets and moons.
When is the announcement?
It is scheduled for Monday, October 26, 2020 at 16:00 UTC, which is 16:00 GMT, 17:00 CET, 12:00 (noon) EDT, and 09:00 PDT.
Participants will include:
- Paul Hertz, Director of the Astrophysics Division at NASA Headquarters, Washington
- Jacob Bleacher, Chief Exploration Scientist with the Human Exploration and Operations Mission Directorate at NASA Headquarters
- Casey Honniball, Postdoctoral Fellow at NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Maryland
- Naseem Rangwala, SOFIA Mission Project Scientist, NASA Ames Research Center, Silicon Valley, California
Where to hear NASA’s Moon announcement live
The briefing will be broadcast live on NASA TV on the NASA website.
NASA’s Stratospheric Infrared Astronomy Observatory (SOFIA).
What do we know about the ad?
All NASA has said so far is that the new discovery “contributes to NASA’s efforts to learn about the Moon in support of deep space exploration.”
NASA also claimed that understanding the science of the Moon also helps reconstruct the larger history of the inner Solar System.
What is Artemis?
NASA returns to the Moon. Having last sent astronauts in 1972, its next Artemis program, the agency will send the first woman and next man to the lunar surface in 2024.
Artemis is being tracked as a way for NASA to prepare for human exploration of Mars as early as the 2030s.
Artemis’s schedule looks like this:
- November 2021: Artemis-I: the pioneer.
- 2023: Artemis-II – The first manned lunar flyby of the 21st century at the south pole of the Moon, where ice water is known to be present.
- October 2024: Artemis-III: the first manned moon landing since 1972.
More Artemis missions each year through 2030 will help build the Lunar Gateway habitation module and descend three more times to the surface of the Moon (Artemis V, VI and VII or VIII).
What is NASA SOFIA?
SOFIA is a specially equipped Boeing 747SP aircraft that has been modified to carry a 2.7 meter / 106 inch reflective telescope.
Flying above 99% of the obscuring water vapor in the atmosphere, SOFIA observes at infrared wavelengths and can detect phenomena impossible to see in visible light. It often adds a new layer of data to that obtained using ground-based observatories.
However, the main advantage of SOFIA for astronomers is that it can fly through the shadow of the planets and moons of the Solar System while hiding stars. It has done this with both Saturn’s moon Titan and the dwarf planet Pluto, managing to detect starlight flowing through the atmosphere of these celestial bodies for just a few seconds while flying at 40,000 feet.
Wishing you clear skies and wide eyes.
