and they did,
there is water on the moon! this illustration highlights the Moon’s Clavius Crater with
an illustration depicting water trapped in the lunar soil there, along with an
image of NASA’s Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy (SOFIA) that
found sunlit lunar water, credits: NASA/Daniel Rutter, the US space agency has revealed conclusive evidence of
water on our only natural satellite, this "unambiguous detection of
molecular water" will boost Nasa's hopes of establishing a lunar base, the
aim is to sustain that base by tapping into the Moon's natural resources, the
findings have been published as two papers in the journal
Nature Astronomy, unlike previous detections of water in permanently
shadowed parts of lunar craters, scientists have now detected the molecule in
sunlit regions of the Moon's surface, the new discovery was made from an airborne
infrared telescope known as Sofia. This observatory, on board a modified
Boeing 747, flies above much of Earth's atmosphere, giving a largely unobstructed
view of the Solar System, using this infrared telescope, researchers picked up
the "signature" colour of water molecules, the researchers think it
is stored in bubbles of lunar glass or between grains on the surface that
protect it from the harsh environment, in the other study, scientists looked
for permanently shadowed areas - known as cold traps - where water could be
captured and remain permanently. They found these cold traps at both poles and
concluded that "approximately 40,000 kilometres squared of the lunar
surface has the capacity to trap water" exciting news indeed, presumably
for future, well a long time in the future water will not have to be brought to
the moon, just thaw out the water that is already there!
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