Proof there IS water on the moon: China’s Chang’e-5 lander becomes the first craft to confirm the presence of H20 on the lunar surface
The Chinese space agency had its moon lander analyse lunar rocks and soil
It arrived on the moon on December 1, 2020 as part of a sample-return mission
The lander found evidence of H2O molecules at 120 parts per million in soil
China’s Chang’e-5 lander is the first craft on the lunar surface to detect signs of water inside moon rocks and soil, Chinese scientists claim.
The lander arrived on the moon on December 1, 2020, as part of a mission to return samples of rock and soil to the Earth, which it achieved on December 16.
While on the moon, the lander used its on-board instruments to take a number of scientific measurements, including the spectral reflectance of moon rocks.
This is a process where light reflected from the rocks can indicate the chemical make-up, including levels of molecules such as oxygen and hydrogen.
The Chinese team found that in some types of rock, at a mid-latitude on the moon, molecules of H20 were present at about 120 parts per million, and others at 180ppm.
This confirms findings made by NASA using Earth-based telescopes, that took measurements of moon rocks to find evidence of water molecules.
It is hoped that astronauts living on the moon in the future will be able to extract the molecular oxygen and hydrogen, to produce water and pure oxygen.
The Chinese mission was a joint project by LIN Yangting and LIN Honglei from the Institute of Geology and Geophysics of the Chinese Academy of Sciences.
Many orbital observations and sample measurements completed over the past decade have shown water exists — as either hydroxyl or H20 in moon rocks.
However, no measurements have been conducted on the lunar surface itself, to determine, close up, whether the molecules are actually in the rocks.
The Chang’E-5 spacecraft landed on one of the youngest regions of the moon, located at a mid-high latitude, and returned 1,731 g of samples.
Before sampling and returning the lunar soil to Earth, however, the lunar mineralogical spectrometer (LMS) onboard the lander performed spectral reflectance measurements of the regolith and of a rock.
The analysis revealed that the rocks where the lander was based contain less than 120 parts per million of water — most of which was brought in on solar winds.
This is consistent with some preliminary analysis of the rocks the lander returned to Earth.
In contrast, a light rock was also analysed by the lander, and it had an estimated 180 ppm of water, suggesting an additional water source from the lunar interior.
The results of compositional and orbital remote sensing analyses show that the rock may have been pushed up from underground.
‘Therefore, the lower water content of the soil, as compared to the higher water content of the rock fragment, suggests that degassing of the mantle reservoir beneath the Chang’E-5 landing site took place,’ the team wrote.
Source: daily mail
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Proof there IS water on the moon: China’s Chang’e-5 lander becomes the first craft to confirm the presence of H20 on the lunar surface