Moon Watah Map: NASA’s Breakthrough Fo’ Da Future of Space Exploration
๐๐ In one of da last flights, one spesho NASA telescope wen’ make one supah important discovery dat could set da future of space exploration, lunar an’ beyond. ๐
Back in February 2022, astronomers wen’ use NASA’s now-retired SOFIA telescope โ da Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy โ fo’ scan one big area nea’ da Moon’s south pole. Based on da images dey wen’ collect, dey wen’ make one new map dat cover ova’ 230,000 square kilometers of da lunar surface, showing plenny watah trapped on da shady sides of da mountains an’ inside da shadowy parts of da craters. ๐๐ง
Lookin’ at da watah data, we can see da crater rims, da individual mountains, an’ even da diff’rences between da day an’ night sides of da mountains, cuz get mo’ watah in dose areas. ๐ฏ
Da idea dat get watah trapped in da shadowy parts of da Moon no stay new. Previous studies wen’ show small kine hints by detecting hydrogen an’ oxygen. Howevah, dat time no had one way fo’ know if we stay lookin’ at actual watah (H2O) o’ some oddah kine chemical mix of da two elements (like da not-so-useful OH ‘hydroxyl’ molecule). ๐งช
SOFIA’s observations back in 2020 wen’ confirm da presence of real watah. Dis new observations show us wea’ da watah stay an’ how much stay dea’. ๐ฆ
NASA say dis jus’ da first of plenny lunar watah maps dat goin’ come from da SOFIA observations. Mo’ maps stay coming, as da team stay focusing on da landing sites fo’ future lunar missions. ๐บ๏ธ
“Dis map of SOFIA data, an’ oddahs dat goin’ come, we stay lookin’ at how watah stay concentrated undah diff’rent lunar environmental conditions,” said Casey Honniball, one visiting scientist at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center, working on da upcoming VIPER mission to da Moon. “Dis map goin’ give valuable info fo’ da Artemis program on potential prospecting areas an’ also give regional context fo’ future science missions, like VIPER.” ๐๐
VIPER stay NASA’s Volatiles Investigating Polar Exploration Rover, one robot dat suppose to land at da lunar south pole ’round 2024. Da target stay Mons Mouton, one mountain in da area dat goin’ be detailed in one of da upcoming maps from SOFIA. ๐
Aftah VIPER, Artemis III goin’ launch in 2025, wit’ da goal fo’ land astronauts nea’ da Moon’s south pole. Dis goin’ be da first crewed mission fo’ touch down on da lunar surface since Apollo 17 in 1972. If da watah SOFIA wen’ discover an’ VIPER goin’ investigate stay easy fo’ us fo’ extract, Artemis III might be da start of humans staying on da Moon fo’ good. ๐๐ฉโ๐๐
