NASA to make major announcement of ‘exciting news’ about the moon

[FBD]

https://www.independent.co.uk/life-s...-b1209506.html

Nasa will hold a major event to announce an “exciting new discovery” about the Moon, it has said.

The space agency did not reveal details about the discovery, but said that it “contributes to Nasa’s efforts to learn about the Moon in support of deep space exploration”.

It also said that the discovery had come from the Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy, or Sofia.

Sofia is a modified Boeing 747 that flies higher than much of the atmosphere, allowing its built-in, 9-foot telescope to get a clear view of our solar system and the broader universe. The plane is able to get up above 99 per cent of the atmosphere’s water vapour, which normally obscures our view of space.

The telescope instruments at the centre of the flying observatory gather infrared light, meaning it can “pick up phenomenon impossible to see with visible light”, Nasa noted in its announcement.


While it spends much of its time looking deeper into space, exploring distant planetary systems and the birth and death of faraway stars, it has revealed important information about other objects in our own solar system. In 2016, for instance, it observed atomic oxygen in Mars’s atmosphere for the first time in 40 years.

Nasa’s notice of the event made heavy reference to the Artemis programme, which hopes to send the first woman and next man to the Moon in 2024, with the hope of using it as a base to launch missions to Mars from the 2030s. They will be the first people to set foot on the Moon since 1972.

The briefing will be attended by Jacob Bleacher, chief exploration scientist for the Human Exploration and Operations Mission Directorate at Nasa’s Headquarters, further suggesting that the discovery is at least applicable to the space agency’s plans to travel to – and live on – the Moon.

As well as Dr Bleacher, the event will be attended by Paul Hertz, astrophysics division director at NASA Headquarters; Casey Honniball, postdoctoral fellow at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center; and Naseem Rangwala, project scientist for the SOFIA mission.

The event will take place at noon eastern time, or 5pm in the UK, on Monday, 26 October, Nasa said. Audio will be streamed live on its website.

[Griffin]

It really is made of cheese!

[FBD]

[Teh One Who Knocks]

By Chris Ciaccia | Fox News




NASA announced it has discovered water on the sunlit surface on the moon.

The water was spotted near the Clavius crater, one of the largest crater formations on the celestial satellite and one that can be seen with the naked eye, Paul Hayne, a planetary scientist at the University of Colorado, said on a conference call with the press. Hayne is the lead author of one of the studies published on the topic.

Casey Honniball, lead author of the other study, said there are between 100 and 400 parts per million of water, or "roughly the equivalent of a 12-ounce bottle of water within a cubic meter of lunar soil."

“We had indications that H2O – the familiar water we know – might be present on the sunlit side of the Moon,” said Paul Hertz, NASA's director of the Astrophysics Division in the Science Mission Directorate, in a statement. “Now we know it is there. This discovery challenges our understanding of the lunar surface and raises intriguing questions about resources relevant for deep space exploration.”

The study led by Honniball found the presence of water directly on the surface, while Hayne's study speculated that water may be trapped in "small spatial scales" all over the surface of the moon.



Researchers have known for some time about the existence of that water on the moon, having first discovered water vapor as early as 1971. In 2009, the first evidence of frozen water on the surface was discovered.

On the call, Jacob Bleacher, chief exploration scientist for NASA’s Human Exploration and Operations Mission Directorate, said the results are "exciting for human exploration," but there are greater implications for it. "Understanding where the water is will help us determine where to send Artemis astronauts on the moon," Bleacher explained.

The new studies note it could be significantly more accessible than previously thought. As such, the water could be used for drinking, fuel supply and other use cases.

Water was previously believed to only exist on areas of the moon that are always in shadows and do not receive sunlight, making them dangerous and frigid for astronauts to access.

“Prior to the SOFIA observations, we knew there was some kind of hydration,” Honniball added in the statement. “But we didn’t know how much, if any, was actually water molecules – like we drink every day – or something more like drain cleaner.”

The discovery was made from NASA's Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy (SOFIA), described as "the world’s largest airborne observatory."

SOFIA is a modified Boeing 747 airplane capable of flying high in Earth's atmosphere, allowing for its 9-foot telescope to get a "clear view of the universe and objects in our solar system." It is able to observe infrared wavelengths that are capable of detecting "phenomena impossible to see with visible light," NASA added.

In 2018, a separate group of researchers published a study that suggested water on the moon may be more accessible than first thought.

The findings come in advance of NASA's Artemis program, which is intended to land American astronauts on the moon by 2024, as well as establish a sustainable human presence on Earth’s natural satellite.

[FBD]

now about its atmosphere...

[deebakes]

what about on the dark side of the moon though?

[FBD]

There is no dark side of the moon really. Matter of fact it's all dark
/pinkfloyd

[Goofy]

what about on the dark side of the moon though?

There is no dark side of the moon really. Matter of fact it's all dark
/pinkfloyd

Thats where the alien base is

[Griffin]

Thats where the alien base is

Nazi base

[Goofy]

Nazi base

Maybe the Nazi's were aliens

[Teh One Who Knocks]

Nazi base

Moonbase Alpha

[Griffin]

[deebakes]

god damn nazis

[Godfather]

Casey Honniball, lead author of the other study, said there are between 100 and 400 parts per million of water, or "roughly the equivalent of a 12-ounce bottle of water within a cubic meter of lunar soil."

So this is super neat and I'm sure has implications a dummy like me doesn't understand, but the sahara desert has 100x more water per sq/m so I wonder if this water could ever be extracted in enough quantities to help a lunar base in any way? Sounds like no way.

[FBD]

So this is super neat and I'm sure has implications a dummy like me doesn't understand, but the sahara desert has 100x more water per sq/m so I wonder if this water could ever be extracted in enough quantities to help a lunar base in any way? Sounds like no way.

if there's that concentration in random location near a crater, there could be higher concentrations elsewhere