NASA is set to reveal an "exciting" new discovery about the moon on Monday.
The major announcement "contributes to NASA's efforts to learn about the moon in support of deep space exploration", and will be made at 4 pm GMT.
The US Space Agency announced last week that it would hold a press conference on October 26 to unveil an "exciting new discovery".
We do not know much about what will be revealed other than this. NASA hinted at the discovery that it was again involved with its plan to land astronauts on the moon.
Two astronauts - one male and one female - will land on the lunar south pole by 2024, which NASA calls its Artemis program.
According to NASA, today's announcement will be at 12 noon today (4 pm UK time).
You can follow all the verbs here, live on this page for free using any of the links below, through the posts or tunes below in Livestream.
A live stream of the event will appear on Nasa’s website, as well as on its official YouTube channel.
Less than an hour to go now until Nasa’s big announcement.
Nasa TV is currently showing a video on how difficult it is to launch rockets from Earth due to its massive gravitational pull. Earlier this month, we were also reminded about another potential obstacle to lifting off from Earth: space debris.
There are currently thousands of pieces of space debris orbiting our planet, and if two large pieces collide – like they almost did recently – the consequences could be catastrophic.
A 1978 study by Nasa scientist Donald Kessler warned that the domino effect of such an event could create an impenetrable layer of debris that would make terrestrial space launches impossible – essentially trapping us on Earth.
For anyone interested, Nasa has also announced that it will be holding an AMA (Ask Me Anything) on Reddit about its findings tomorrow. Anyone can ask questions on r/space on Tuesday, 27 Oct at 10am PT / 1pm ET/ 5pm GMT.
Nasa’s official Twitter account for Moon news has shared an image of Casey Honniball aboard Sofia. It appears Dr Honniball may take centre stage for this announcement – further confirmation that it is about the discovery of water?
In its announcement of today’s briefing, Nasa made reference to Artemis, its ambitious Moon mission programme.
As part of Artemis, which spans almost a decade’s worth of missions starting in 2021, Nasa has pledged to land man on the Moon within the next three years.
The mission will mark the first time astronauts have set foot on the lunar surface since 1972.
A giant Nasa rocket dubbed the Space Launch System will carry astronauts beyond Earth's atmosphere.
Once at the Moon, two astronauts will descend to the surface from an orbiting craft called the Lunar Gateway.
Nasa has pledged that one of the landing crew will be female, marking the first time a woman has set foot on the Moon.
The pair would land on the lunar south pole, where vast reserves of frozen water could be tapped for future explorers.
The landing system that brought the astronauts to the surface will then blast back to the orbiting Gateway satellite.
They will board an Orion capsule for the 250,000-mile trip back to Earth.
Nasa has a mountain of technical challenges to overcome before Artemis gets the green light.
It's still not clear if everything will be ready in time for the ambitious 2024 launch date.
Nasa boss Jim Bridenstine has said the Moon will serve as a critical training ground for Mars expeditions, perhaps in the 2030s.
Happy Monday! And welcome to The Sun's coverage of an impending Nasa announcement concerning a discovery about the Moon.Nasa has kept its cards close to its chest in terms of what the press conference will reveal, but we can unearth a few clues from an official blog post posted last week.The discovery related to Artemis, Nasa's ambitious plan to land astronauts on the Moon again in 2024.
“This new discovery contributes to Nasa’s efforts to learn about the Moon in support of deep space exploration,” Nasa said.
“Under Nasa's Artemis program, the agency will send the first woman and next man to the lunar surface in 2024 to prepare for our next giant leap – human exploration of Mars as early as the 2030s.
“Understanding the science of the Moon also helps piece together the broader history of the inner solar system.”
Others have noted that Nasa’s Moon announcement comes at a time when there are maybe more urgent matters to address back here on Earth.
It comes in the midst of an ever-worsening pandemic, global economic turmoil, and just eight days before the US presidential elections. Given all that, maybe it’s actually a welcome distraction?
There’s been a lot of speculation across social media about what Nasa’s announcement might be.
Alien life, the discovery of a monolith, or how about a Death Star?
