In 2020, China's Chang'e 5 spacecraft landed on the moon and returned samples of dust and rocks, which were discovered to contain water — but not a lot of it.
Water has been discovered in samples of lunar dust and rocks returned by China's Chang'e 5 mission, but not in the quantities expected.
On December 1, 2020, Chang'e 5 landed on the moon and took soil and rock samples. An ascent stage lifted off from the moon two days later, delivering the samples back to Earth two weeks later. The Chinese Academy of Sciences' Jianjun Liu and Bin Liu, as well as their colleagues, have now analyzed the samples and discovered evidence of water trapped in their crystalline structure.
Water has been discovered in samples of lunar dust and rocks returned by China's Chang'e 5 mission, but not in the quantities expected.
On December 1, 2020, Chang'e 5 landed on the moon and took soil and rock samples. An ascent stage lifted off from the moon two days later, delivering the samples back to Earth two weeks later. The Chinese Academy of Sciences' Jianjun Liu and Bin Liu, as well as their colleagues, have now analyzed the samples and discovered evidence of water trapped in their crystalline structure. to the nature of the vessel.
It could also be because the craft landed in a region shielded from the solar wind by Earth's magnetic field. This wind contains hydrogen, which can combine with oxygen atoms on the moon's surface to form water, making it a known source of lunar water.
"This work is analyzing a few scoops from a very specific place taken under specific circumstances," Prem explains, "but this is a crucial component of the overall picture." Dust and rock samples, local data from the lander, and satellite observations from orbit have all been obtained from the same location by scientists. She claims that by comparing them, we will be able to better relate satellite data to ground reality in the future.
It's unclear if future moon astronauts will be able to drink this mineral-bound water. "To pull water out of soil, you'd have to process a lot of it," Prem adds. "In terms of volume, even the wettest lunar soils are drier than the driest desert on Earth, so we're dealing with very small amounts of water." But water is valuable, especially outside our globe."
