(Photo by Stu Forster/Getty Images for ECB)
There might be more water on the moon than previously thought, NASA scientists said at a Monday news conference. That fact could be used in upcoming lunar missions through the Artemis program, according to a CNN report.
NASA’s findings are based on data gathered by NASA’s Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter, which has been in orbit around the moon since 2009, as well as the agency’s Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy airborne telescope, or SOFIA.
SOFIA, a modified Boeing 747SP, used its telescope to pick up molecular water signatures on the moon’s sunlit surface.
"For the first time, water has been confirmed to be present on the sunlit surface of the moon," said Paul Hayne, an assistant professor in the Laboratory of Atmospheric and Space Physics at the University of Colorado Boulder who helped author a study on NASA's findings.
Molecular water found by SOFIA could also be associated with hydroxyl, which is oxygen bonded with hydrogen. Hydroxyl is common in drain cleaner.
"If we're right, water is going to be more accessible for drinking water, for rocket fuel, everything that NASA needs water for," said Paul Hayne, lead study author and assistant professor in the Laboratory of Atmospheric and Space Physics at the University of Colorado Boulder.
NASA is planning future probes of the water pockets ahead of a planned human mission to the moon in 2024, where the first woman is expected to land on the moon through the Artemis program.