Discovery of Water on Asteroids

Recently, for the first time, water molecules have been detected on the surface of an asteroid, providing valuable insights into the distribution of water in our solar system.

• Scientists utilized data from the Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy (SOFIA) to study four silicate-rich asteroids, uncovering evidence of water molecules on two of them — Iris and Massalia.
• While previous studies have found water in asteroid samples brought back to Earth, this marks the first direct detection of water molecules on an asteroid's surface in space.
• The detection was made possible by observations from SOFIA's Faint Object InfraRed Camera (FORCAST) instrument, similar to previous ....