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IN SPACE – JULY 12: In this video screen shot provided by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), NASA astronaut Mike Fossum, Expedition 28 flight engineer, makes repairs at the Station International Space for a planned period of six and a half years. spacewalk time on July 12, 2011 in space. The space shuttle Atlantis has embarked on a 12-day mission to the International Space Station, where it will deliver the Raffaello multipurpose logistics module packed with supplies and spare parts. This will be the final launch of the space shuttle program, which began on April 12, 1981 with the launch of Colombia. (NASA photo via Getty Images) NASA via Getty Images
NASA created stratospheric levels of speculation with an announcement last week that it had made a major “discovery” on the moon’s surface. With news about to come out of its Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy (SOFIA) on Monday, expectations are skyrocketing.
According to a statement from the space agency, the discovery “contributes to NASA’s efforts to learn about the Moon in support of deep space exploration.” NASA also reminded the world that in 2024, its Artemis program will send humans to the moon for the first time since 1972. The mission will include the first woman to set foot on the lunar surface and will serve as a link to the space agency’s plans. to send humans to Mars in the 2030s.
NASA has not offered direct clues as to what it will announce, but there are many inferences to make. SOFIA is an upgraded 747 jet with an advanced laboratory and 9-foot telescope that can “observe at infrared wavelengths and can detect phenomena impossible to see with visible light.” One of the four scientists who will participate in the announcement, Dr. Casey Honniball, has used SOFIA to search for water on the lunar surface, with some success, according to an article he published earlier this year.
There are other possibilities, of course: Another NASA scientist who will be in the ad, Dr. Naseem Rangwala, is an expert in astrobiology and has focused in part on the study of molecular gases. Perhaps another material has been discovered on the moon, or has been ruled out entirely.
There has been no shortage of news around the moon this year. NASA has been stepping up the Artemis Project for some time and releasing the announcements, both scientific and commercial. In September, the agency announced that it had found a new, shorter, and fuel-efficient route to the moon that could allow the probes to arrive at low cost; last week, word spread that he had contracted with Nokia to build a cellular network on the surface of the moon.
Nokia was one of 15 companies NASA turned to to help build a human base on the moon as part of the Artemis program.
