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Water on Moon! It's right there Nasa discovers crater visible from Earth

Author: Aditi Agarwal
by Aditi Agarwal
Posted: Oct 30, 2020

The water molecules were found on Moon's Clavius Crater, one of the largest craters visible from Earth. (Nasa)

The discovery comes on the back of several other observations made in the past including by Chandrayaan-1.

Here's why it is of critical importance :

In one of the greatest cosmic revelations of the decade, Nasa affirmed the presence of water on the sunlit surface of the Moon. The Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy (SOFIA), unexpectedly, affirmed that water might be conveyed over the moon and not just limited to cold, shadowed spots. The water atoms were found on Moon's Clavius Crater, perhaps the biggest cavity obvious from Earth.

Scientists believe that most of the water recognized must be put away inside glasses or in voids between grains protected from the brutal climate, permitting the water to stay on the lunar surface. The revelation was distributed in Nature Astronomy on late Monday night.

Nasa in a teleconference said, "SOFIA has recognized water atoms (H2O) in Clavius Crater, perhaps the biggest cavity noticeable from Earth, situated in the Moon's southern half of the globe." previously, researchers had identified some type of hydrogen on the lunar surface, be that as it may, they couldn't recognize water and its nearby substance relative, hydroxyl (OH).

"Without a thick atmosphere, water on the sunlit lunar surface should just be lost to space," said C I Honniball, the lead author and a postdoctoral fellow at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center. "Yet somehow we’re seeing it. Something is generating the water, and something must be trapping it there.

Why is the discovery critical?

The discovery of water, though, in a small quantity raises new questions about how water is created and how it persists on the harsh lunar terrain in a vacuum. The discovery holds critical significance as the United States sets its eyes on returning to the moon with the Artemis program.

Water is a precious resource in deep space and a key ingredient of life as we know it. Under NASA’s Artemis program, the agency is eager to learn all it can about the presence of water on the Moon in advance of sending the first woman and next man to the lunar surface in 2024 and establishing a sustainable human presence there by the end of the decade. "We had indications that H2O – the familiar water we know – might be present on the sunlit side of the Moon," said Paul Hertz, director of the Astrophysics Division in the Science Mission Directorate adding that this discovery challenges the understanding of the lunar surface and raises intriguing questions about resources relevant for deep space exploration.

Water is a valuable resource and the discovery opens new avenues, wherein, if it can be used then astronauts could carry less water and more equipment to the lunar surface for new scientific discoveries.

Following the Chandrayan-1 trail

For many years, researchers believed that the rocks from the moon were bone-dry and any water detected in the Apollo samples had to be contamination from Earth. All that changed in 2013, when the Moon Mineralogy Mapper (M3) instrument aboard the Indian Space Research Organisation's (ISRO) Chandrayaan-1 spacecraft remotely detected magmatic water or water that originates from deep within the moon's interior, on the surface of the moon. The latest discovery by SOFIA comes on the back of several other observations made in the past including by the Chandrayaan-1 mission.

Moon as seen from Earth's orbit. (Nasa)Chandrayaan-1's discovery paved the way for scientists to begin testing some of the findings from sample studies in a broader context, including in regions that are far from where the Apollo sites are clustered on the near side of the moon. "Prior to the SOFIA observations, we knew there was some kind of hydration," Nasa quoted Honniball as saying. "But we didn’t know how much, if any, was actually water molecules – like we drink every day – or something more like drain cleaner," she added.

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Author: Aditi Agarwal

Aditi Agarwal

Member since: Oct 19, 2020
Published articles: 9

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