Thanks to the telescope SOFIA it was possible to confirm the presence of water in the face facing the Earth of the Moon in the equatorial area and illuminated by the Sun. This is a very important discovery in view of the Artemis missions and for the astronauts who since 2024 will be able to return to our satellite. This was announced by NASA (with a teaser by Bridenstine) during a press conference held in these minutes.

The water on the near-Earth face of the Moon opens up new scenarios for NASA

We do not yet know how exploitable these water reserves will be on the Moon. Definitely a starting point for robotic (and later human) missions and to study the lunar regolith that trapped the molecules.

According to what emerged, the water on the Moon would be arrived through the meteorites that impacted the surface. Thanks to the presence of permanently shaded areas, the water molecules were able to withstand the difficult conditions of the satellite. The estimated quantity is 100 ppm – 412 ppm (parts per million) in the first meter of the surface but the total quantity is not yet clear. A bottle of water dispersed in a cubic meter of regolith (within small circular structures).

The affected area is the Clavius ​​crater but in the future new observations will be made to improve the accuracy of the data and expand knowledge on the phenomenon.

Paul Hertz (director of the astrophysics division at NASA) stated “we had indications that the water we know – could be present on the sunny side of the moon. We now know it is there. This discovery challenges our understanding of the lunar surface and raises intriguing questions about resources relevant to deep space exploration “.

The discovery thanks to the telescope SOFIA

The discovery announced today and which has the Luna , was completed thanks to the t SOFIA helescope (acronym for Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy). This is a very special telescope considering that it is housed inside a Boeing 747 SP , allowing it to fly at a maximum of almost 14 km.

This is important because at those heights you exceed (al 28%) the natural filter of the earth’s atmosphere to the infrared radiation . It is thus possible to acquire information that alternatively only space telescopes can capture, all however without the complexity of a launch and related maintenance and control problems.

Il SOFIA telescope has dimensions of 2.7 meters with an effective diameter of 2.5 meters. This allows to study the Solar System and all those situations where there are powders that block visible light (but not infrared). In addition, the ability to move around the world also allows you to change “point of view” on the phenomenon to be observed.