Before NASA returns to the moon in 2024, the space agency is teasing “exciting new discoveries” about celestial satellites.
The search, expected to be announced Monday afternoon EST, is expected to “inform” the agency’s Artemis program work, according to a source familiar with the situation.
NASA said in a statement, “This new discovery contributes to NASA’s efforts to learn about the moon by supporting deep space exploration.”
NASA has a plan for annual Artemis Moon flights by the year 2030. May first fly in 2021.
The announcement will be made by NASA’s Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy (SOFIA), which will be described as “the world’s largest airborne observatory”.
Sofia is an improved Boeing 7 747 aircraft capable of flying high in the Earth’s atmosphere, allowing its 9-foot telescope to get a “clear view of the universe and objects in our solar system”. It is capable of observing “infrared wavelengths that are” impossible to see with visible light, “NASA added.
NASA’s Artemis program aims to land American astronauts on the moon by 2024 and establish a sustainable human presence.
In 2019, NASA unveiled details of its vision for the Artemis Moon lander that will return American astronauts to the lunar surface. Artemis will also make history by landing the first woman on the moon.
Early mission capabilities for 2024 include landing two astronauts at the moon’s south pole. According to NASA, the astronaut will live and work outside the lander for six and a half days.
After the Apollo 11 astronauts Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin set foot on the moon on July 20, 1969, only 10 more men, all Americans, walked on the lunar surface. The last NASA astronaut to set foot on the moon was Apollo 17 mission commander Janine Karnan on December 14, 1972.
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The story is contributed by James Rogers of Fox News.
