NASA has officially put an end to years of speculation as they confirmed that there is water on the Moon.
While researchers previously suggested there could be water, in the shape of ice, on our moon, NASA has now confirmed that they have collected unquestionable evidence of the presence of water on the Moon.
Thanks to the groundbreaking discovery, space explorers could one day turn the ice on the Moon into drinking water and oxygen which could lead to the establishment of human colonies.
In addition, scientists believe that the water resources on the Moon could make space travel easier by allowing us to cut the costs of space expeditions by giving us the chance to make rocket fuel on the Moon rather than on Earth.
As a separate research piece suggested, there could be up to 15,000 square miles of water on the Moon.
The discovery follows after decades of researchers’ speculations that water is located in the so-called ‘cold traps’, the cold and dark craters located on the Moon’s surface.
Nevertheless, the theory could previously not be confirmed as scientists weren’t able to prove whether the detection of hydrogen and oxygen on the Moon was due to the presence of water, H2O, or hydroxyl, OH.
“The problem was that the water ice signature that was found before was really just telling us that there were oxygen and hydrogen atoms bound together. On the Earth, this is mainly water, but on the Moon, you can’t be so sure,” physicist Dr. Nick Tothill explained.
The speculations were finally confirmed thanks to NASA’s modified Boeing 747 called Sofia, short for Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy.
Since the aircraft, which flies around our planet at some 41,000 feet, has been equipped with an advanced sensor that detects “a fundamental vibration of molecular water,” the researchers were able to indisputably confirm that there is water on the sunlit surface of the Moon after detecting it in Clavius Crater, one of the Moon’s largest craters visible from Earth.
“We had indications that H2O – the familiar water we know – might be present on the sunlit side of the Moon,” the director of NASA’s Astrophysics Division in the Science Mission Directorate, Dr. Paul Hertz, explained.
“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.”
Replaced!