NASA has confirmed the presence of water on the moon's sunlit surface, a breakthrough that suggests the chemical compound that is vital to life on Earth could be distributed across more parts of the lunar surface than the ice that has previously been found in dark and cold areas.

美國國家航空航天局證實月球表面有水的存在，這一突破表明，對地球生命至關重要的化學化合物可能分布在月球表面更多的地方，而不同于以前在黑暗和寒冷地區(qū)發(fā)現(xiàn)的冰。

"We don't know yet if we can use it as a resource," NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine said, but he added that learning more about the water is crucial to U.S. plans to explore the moon.

美國航空航天局局長吉姆·布里登斯汀說:“我們還不知道是否可以把它作為一種資源來利用?！钡a充說，了解更多關于水的知識對美國的探月計劃至關重要。

The discovery comes from the space agency's Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy, or SOFIA — a modified Boeing 747 that can take its large telescope high into Earth's atmosphere, at altitudes up to 45,000 feet. 

這一發(fā)現(xiàn)來自于美國航空航天局的平流層紅外天文觀測臺，簡稱索菲亞，這是一架改裝過的波音747飛機，它可以攜帶大型望遠鏡進入地球大氣層，高度可達45000英尺。

Those heights allow researchers to peer at objects in space with hardly any visual disruptions from water vapor.

這樣的高度使得研究人員可以在幾乎不受水汽干擾的情況下觀察太空中的物體。

The water molecules are in Clavius crater, a large crater in the moon's southern hemisphere. 

這些水分子位于月球南半球的克拉維烏斯環(huán)形山。

To detect the molecules, SOFIA used a special infrared camera that can discern between water's specific wavelength of 6.1 microns and that of its close chemical relative hydroxyl, or OH.

為了檢測這些分子，索菲亞使用了一種特殊的紅外照相機，它可以分辨水的特定波長6.1微米和它的化學相對羥基之間的波長。

"Data from this location reveal water in concentrations of 100 to 412 parts per million — roughly equivalent to a 12-ounce bottle of water — trapped in a cubic meter of soil spread across the lunar surface," NASA said in a release about the discovery.

美國航空航天局在一份關于這一發(fā)現(xiàn)的新聞稿中說:“從這個位置得到的數(shù)據(jù)顯示，水的濃度為百萬分之100到百萬分之412，大致相當于一瓶12盎司的水，被困在一立方米的月球表面土壤中?！?/p>

"This is not puddles of water but instead water molecules that are so spread apart that they do not form ice or liquid water," said Casey Honniball, the lead author of a study about the discovery.

“這不是水坑，而是分散開來的水分子，它們不會形成冰或液態(tài)水，”關于這一發(fā)現(xiàn)的一項研究的主要作者凱西·霍尼鮑爾說。

The data confirm what experts have suspected, that water might exist on the moon's sunny side. 

這些數(shù)據(jù)證實了專家們的猜測，即月球向陽的一面可能存在水。

But in recent years, researchers had been able to document only water ice at the moon's poles and other darker and colder areas.

但近年來，研究人員只能記錄下月球兩極和其他較暗較冷地區(qū)的冰。

Experts will now try to figure out exactly how the water came to form and why it persists. 

專家們現(xiàn)在將試圖弄清楚水是如何形成的，為什么它會持續(xù)存在。

NASA scientists published their findings in the latest issue of Nature Astronomy.

美國宇航局的科學家在最新一期的《自然天文學》上發(fā)表了他們的發(fā)現(xiàn)。

"Without a thick atmosphere, water on the sunlit lunar surface should just be lost to space," said Honniball. 

“如果沒有厚厚的大氣層，月球表面受陽光照射的水就會消失在太空中，”霍尼鮑爾說。

"Yet somehow we're seeing it. Something is generating the water, and something must be trapping it there."

“但我們還是看到了它。一定是什么東西在產(chǎn)生水，一定是什么東西把水困住了。”

There are several possible explanations for the water's presence, including the possibility that it was delivered to the surface by micrometeorites impacting the moon. 

對于水的存在有幾種可能的解釋，包括它可能是由撞擊月球的微隕石帶到月球表面的。

Glass beads from that process could trap water, but the SOFIA instruments cannot distinguish between water held inside impact glasses and water trapped between grains and in voids, according to the researchers' paper.

根據(jù)研究人員的論文，這個過程中的玻璃微珠可能會留住水，但是索菲亞的儀器無法區(qū)分碰撞玻璃內的水和在顆粒和空隙中保存的水。