Shocking! NASA finds water near the South Pole of the Moon! Know what SOFIA has revealed

tech.hindustantimes.com:

The first detailed, wide-area map of water distribution on the Moon is out. Yes, a new study using the now-retired Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy (SOFIA) has pieced together the map. With clear, identifiable lunar features marked out by the water data, the study provides hints about how water may be moving across the Moon's surface, particularly near its South Pole — an important area for space exploration.

"The new map covers about one-quarter of the Earth-facing side of the lunar surface below 60 degrees latitude and extends to the Moon's South Pole. Given the large region covered, the researchers could easily identify how water relates to surface features on the Moon, staying away from sunlight and favoring cold areas," NASA said in a report.

“When looking at the water data, we can actually see crater rims, we see the individual mountains, and we can even see differences between the day and night sides of the mountains, thanks to the higher concentration of water in these places,” said Bill Reach, director of the SOFIA Science Center at NASA's Ames Research Center in California's Silicon Valley and lead author on the study, which was presented at the 2023 Lunar and Planetary Science Conference.

In late 2024, NASA's Volatiles Investigating Polar Exploration Rover (VIPER) will land in the region studied by SOFIA, atop Mons Mouton, to conduct the first resource mapping mission beyond Earth. The flat-topped lunar mountain will be a region of emphasis in the next paper from the team that led the current study of SOFIA data.

This current finding, along with two previous SOFIA results about the amount and distribution of water on the Moon's sunlit surface, tracks a unique light signature of water. Other