新發現！NASA首次證實月球光照面存在水

10月26日，美國國家航空航天局（NASA）宣布，在陽光照射下的月球表面，首次探測到水分子。這一發現可能會改變未來探索月球的任務，也有望為將來的太空任務提供更多資源。

先前，NASA的月球隕石坑觀測和感知衛星觀察表明，月球兩極周圍永久陰影的隕石坑中有數百萬噸的冰。此外，NASA表示，月球上的水是否容易獲得，並可以成為一種資源，一切尚不清楚。

但《自然天文學》（Nature Astronomy）雜誌上的兩項研究將月球表面水的可得性提升到了一個新的水平。

如今，這一驚人的發現表明，水可能遍布月球表面，而不是僅僅分布於月球的極地陰暗處。另外，月球陰暗處、寒冷的角落和縫隙中可能存在比之前想像的更多的冷凍水。

On Monday, NASA announced that water has been confirmed on the sunlit surfaces of the Moon. The news could change the future of lunar missions and research into space.

The moon's shadowed, frigid nooks and crannies may hold frozen water in more places and in larger quantities than previously suspected. And for the first time, the presence of water on the moon's sunlit surface has been confirmed, scientists reported Monday.

While previous observations have indicated millions of tons of ice in the permanently shadowed craters of the moon's poles, a pair of studies in the journal Nature Astronomy take the availability of lunar surface water to a new level.

In this early Monday, Oct. 5, 2020, file photo, a waning moon is seen at the sky over Frankfurt, Germany. The moon’s shadowed, frigid nooks and crannies may hold frozen water in more places and in larger quantities than previously suspected, good news for astronauts at future lunar bases who could tap into these resources for drinking and making rocket fuel, scientists reported Monday, Oct. 26, 2020./AFP

科羅拉多大學保羅·海恩（Paul Hayne）領導的研究小組表示，超過40000平方公裡的月球地形具有以冰的形式留住水的能力。他說，這比之前預估的面積多了20%。

馬裡蘭州的NASA戈達德太空飛行中心的研究員凱西·霍尼鮑爾（Casey Honniball）稱，此前就有跡象表明，水可能存在於月球光照表面。月球表面上探測到的水分子之間的距離太大，既不是液態也不是固態。

霍尼鮑爾在新聞發布會上表示，這是第一次確認了水分子普遍存在於月球表面上。

More than 15,400 square miles (40,000 square kilometers) of lunar terrain have the capability to trap water in the form of ice, according to a team led by the University of Colorado's Paul Hayne. That's 20 percent more area than previous estimates, he said.

The presence of water in sunlit surfaces had been previously suggested, but not confirmed. The molecules are so far apart that they are in neither liquid nor solid form, said lead researcher Casey Honniball, a postdoctoral fellow at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Maryland.

"To be clear, this is not puddles of water," she stressed at a news conference.

In this Wednesday, Sept. 30, 2020, file photo, a nearly full moon rises, with an office building in the foreground, in downtown Kansas City, Mo. The moon’s shadowed, frigid nooks and crannies may hold frozen water in more places and in larger quantities than previously suspected, good news for astronauts at future lunar bases who could tap into these resources for drinking and making rocket fuel, scientists reported Monday, Oct. 26, 2020./AFP

然而，NASA天體物理學部門主任保羅·赫茲（Paul Hertz）認為這項研究仍然存在很多未知數。他表示，這些水分子是NASA的平流層紅外天文臺（SOFIA）在月球南半球的克拉維斯環形山探測到的。這將給未來的月球任務帶來新的挑戰，因為該環形山所在區域的表面可能會更堅硬，容易破壞月球車的車輪和鑽頭。人們甚至無法確定月球車能否順利到達那裡。

儘管如此，這些最新的發現還是擴大了機器人和太空人未來月球著陸點的選項。

NASA最近公布了其「阿爾忒彌斯」（Artemis）登月計劃的最新安排，仍準備在2024年將太空人送上月球。美國總統川普已將這一登月計劃列為優先發展事項。

NASA's astrophysics director Paul Hertz said it's too soon to know whether this water – found in and around the southern hemisphere's sunlit Clavius Crater – would be accessible. The surface could be harder there, ruining wheels and drills.

These latest findings, nonetheless, expand the possible landing spots for robots and astronauts alike — "opening up real estate previously considered 'off limit' for being bone dry," Hayne said in an email to The Associated Press.

For now, NASA said it still aims to send astronauts to the lunar south pole, especially rich in frozen water. The White House deadline is 2024.