NASA will share an 'exciting new discovery' about the moon on Monday. Listen to the announcement live.

 

• On Monday, NASA will share "an exciting new discovery" about the moon.

  The space agency has not revealed any details about the discovery, but said it could support "deep-space exploration."

  NASA TV will stream live audio of the announcement. You can listen via the embed below.

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  NASA made a cryptic announcement this week: It has "an exciting new discovery" about the moon, but it's not going to reveal the finding just yet.

  Instead, it will share the details in a press briefing on Monday and stream the audio live online. (You can tune in via the embed below.)

  "This new discovery contributes to NASA's efforts to learn about the moon in support of deep space exploration," the agency's statement says. "Understanding the science of the moon also helps piece together the broader history of the inner solar system."

  NASA's Artemis program aims to send astronauts back to the moon's surface by 2024, then later establish a lunar base from which it can hopscotch the first humans to Mars. It's not yet clear how the mysterious new discovery might affect those plans.

An illustration made available by NASA in April 2020 depicts Artemis astronauts on the moon. NASA via AP

We do know, however, that the discovery was made by NASA's Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy, a modified Boeing 747 jet plane that uses a 9-foot telescope to capture infrared images of planets and other objects in our solar system. The plane flies about 41,000 feet above the Earth.

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Four NASA officials and scientists will discuss the findings at 12 p.m. ET on Monday:

Paul Hertz, astrophysics division director at NASA

Jacob Bleacher, chief exploration scientist for the Human Exploration and Operations Mission Directorate at NASA

Casey Honniball, postdoctoral fellow at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland

Naseem Rangwala, project scientist for the SOFIA mission at NASA's Ames Research Center in Mountain View, California

NASA TV will stream audio of the announcement here:

An illustration shows Astrobotic's Griffin lunar lander deploying a ramp on the moon's surface. Astrobotic

If the moon does indeed hold plenty of water, it could help NASA realize its goal of establishing a permanent lunar base. From there, astronauts could mine and produce fuel that could be used for trips back home or deeper into space. 

Harvesting resources on the moon, NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine said in September, would allow space explorers to start "living off the land."