The new discovery comes from remote observation of the moon’s surface by an infrared telescope on SOFIA, a modified Boeing 747 airplane that flies high in Earth’s atmosphere and scans the moon’s surface. The instruments aboard the observatory detected subtleties in the moonlight at a wavelength of 6 microns, which the researchers believe is an unambiguous signal of water. “Only molecular water can create a 6-micron band,” (Casey Honniball, a research fellow at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center) said.

Lunar water could be used not only for sustenance, but to refuel a ship for return trips to Earth. Water is heavy. If sufficient water exists on the Moon, lunar exploration and even colonization could be much more practical than we believed.