--- title: "On Sunlit Surface of Moon NASA’s SOFIA Confirms Water Presence" description: "NASA's its mission, SOFIA, has confirmed the presence of water molecules in Clavius Crater, one of the biggest craters visible from Earth on the lunar" author: "Siddhi Shaw" published: 2022-08-29 canonical: https://www.mindstick.com/news/1935/on-sunlit-surface-of-moon-nasa-s-sofia-confirms-water-presence category: "space and research" tags: ["moon", "space science", "science and technology", "water"] reading_time: 2 minutes --- # On Sunlit Surface of Moon NASA’s SOFIA Confirms Water Presence Announcing a latest '**exciting discovery**' regarding Moon, the **[National Aeronautics](https://answers.mindstick.com/qa/52139/name-of-the-moon-mission-2024-which-was-unveiled-by-national-aeronautics-and-space-administration) and Space Administration (NASA)** has mentioned that its mission, **SOFIA**, has confirmed the presence of water molecules in **Clavius Crater,** [one of the biggest](https://answers.mindstick.com/qa/51358/what-was-one-of-the-biggest-issued-debated-in-the-1970s) craters visible from **Earth** on the lunar surface. This crater was located within the [Moon](https://www.mindstick.com/news/1754/a-closer-look-of-jupiter-s-rings-and-moons-is-possible-with-nasa-s-james-webb-telescope)'s southern hemisphere. Moreover, this discovery would indicate that '**water could be [distributed](https://answers.mindstick.com/blog/43/how-do-you-handle-failures-in-distributed-systems) across the surface and not restricted to cold, shadowed places**.' ``` HIGHLIGHTS Water molecules were found in Clavius Crater, visible from Earth on the Moon SOFIA was a joint project of NASA and the German Aerospace Center Sahara has 100 times amount of water than what SOFIA detected in the lunar soil ``` As per NASA, '**for the first time NASA's Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy [SOFIA] has confirmed that water on the sunlit surface of the Moon. This discovery had indicated that water could also be distributed across the lunar surface and not restricted to cold, shadowed places**.' In one amongst its tweets, [NASA](https://www.mindstick.com/news/1856/a-strange-crater-like-an-ear-got-spotted-by-nasa-s-mars-reconnaissance-orbiter) has mentioned that: '**Water molecules were found in Clavius Crater, one of the biggest craters visible from Earth on the Moon!**' SOFIA, short for **Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy** was a joint project of **NASA** and the **German Aerospace Center** to take care and construct an airborne observatory. Therefore NASA has mentioned that the **Sahara** has **100 times** the amount of water than what SOFIA had detected within the lunar soil. Well, NASA has even mentioned that '**Data from this location would reveal water in concentrations of 100 to 412 [components](https://www.mindstick.com/blog/74096/understanding-the-role-of-some-integral-ac-components) per million that was roughly [comparable](https://www.mindstick.com/interview/2521/what-is-the-difference-between-comparable-and-comparator) to a 12-ounce bottle of water which was cornered in a cubic meter of soil spread across the lunar surface**.' Water has been a key ingredient of life but whether or not this water had been detected by SOFIA, has to be used as a resource was however yet to be determined. However, the discovery [challenges](https://www.mindstick.com/articles/325216/challenges-faced-by-technologists-while-performing-the-cloud-migration-process) the [understanding](https://www.mindstick.com/articles/12918/cat-5e-vs-cat-6a-understanding-the-major-differences) of the lunar surface. Also Read: [Huge Storms on Jupiter's Surface got captured by NASA's Juno Mission](https://www.mindstick.com/news/1817/huge-storms-on-jupiter-s-surface-got-captured-by-nasa-s-juno-mission) --- Original Source: https://www.mindstick.com/news/1935/on-sunlit-surface-of-moon-nasa-s-sofia-confirms-water-presence Copyright © MindStick Software Pvt. Ltd. This Markdown version is provided for developers, AI systems, and offline reading.