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The moon lacks the huge amounts of water found on earth. But water molecules that have been “trapped” within mineral fragments on the moon’s surface now appear to cause scientists to re-evaluate the water situation on our closest celestial body. And possibly more water could be found in patches of ice hidden in the part of the moon that is constantly in shadow.
You water it now found is in the large Clavius crater visible from Earth. The water was discovered using a NASA telescope placed on a plane high above the earth’s surface.
The observation port of NASA’s 747 SP can be left open during flight, allowing use of the large 2.5-meter infrared telescope.
Photo: Detlev van Ravenswaay
The researcher’s findings, reported eleven years ago, indicated that water in small amounts was relatively widespread on the moon. In unequivocal reports, a research team now shows that water molecules have been discovered on the lunar surface, writes the Reuters news agency. At the same time, another research team has concluded that the moon has an estimated surface area of 40,000 square kilometers that could contain hidden pockets of water in the form of ice.
Read more: NASA’s SOFIA discovers water on the surface of the sunlit Moon
Water is a valuable resource, and if there is a relatively abundant supply of this liquid on the moon, this may prove important for future expeditions by astronauts and robots to the moon: the extraction of water could take place on site, for use. on things like drinking water and fuel production.
Reuters writes that one The research team led by Casey Honniball at NASA’s Space Flight Center, NASA’s unmanned aerospace research center, is responsible for the discovery of molecular water on the surface of the moon. Previous observations have shown that there is hydrogen and oxygen, but researchers have not been able to determine whether it was pure water or the hydroxyl “molecular cousin” of water.
However, with the methods used when the new findings were developed, it has been possible to leave this ambiguity there.
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