Lunar water isn’t relegated to the dark side of the moon. On Monday, NASA announced that scientists had discovered water molecules inside Clavius Crater, a massive lunar depression visible from Earth.
The discovery, detailed in the journal Nature Astronomy, was made possible by NASA’s research aircraft SOFIA, short for Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy.
Researchers previously found concentrations of hydrogen on the moon’s sunlit surface, but were unable to determine their origin.
“Today, we’re announcing the previously detected hydrogen found on the surface of the moon is located in water molecules,” Paul Hertz, director of the Astrophysics Division in the Science Mission Directorate at NASA Headquarters, told reporters Monday during a teleconference.
