Two years ago, the Chang’e 5 mission landed a device on the Moon to collect rock samples. On site, the analysis confirmed the presence of water on the Earth satellite.
Much like the Apollo missions fifty years ago, China’s Chang’e 5 mission aimed to bring lunar soil samples back to Earth. The lander landed two years ago, north of Oceanus Procellarum, the youngest volcanic area on the surface of the Moon. After a few weeks, the device brought almost 2 kg of rock back to Earth.
China’s lunar probe, Chang’e-5 lunar lander, detects in-situ moon surface water, lending new evidence to the dryness of satellite & as investigation of lunar water reserves to the building of manned lunar stations in the next decades. pic.twitter.com/gImxtq2NeX
— Ambassador Deng Xijun (@China2ASEAN) January 9, 2022
However, that’s not the only thing the lander has done on the Moon. Indeed, the machine also took advantage of its passage on our satellite to analyze the surrounding rock. During a spectroscopic analysis of the environment, traces of water molecules were discovered.
A discovery that confirms the previous
We had already discovered the presence of water on the Moon, notably through previous orbital missions, as well as with the various samples brought back to Earth. Nevertheless, detecting water through on-site analysis is an unprecedented event.
According to the mineralogical spectrometer, up to 180 parts per million (ppm) of water have been found as hydroxyl (OH) or water molecules.
The blocks analyzed have many cavities and would have an underground volcanic origin. For the researchers, this could mean that there is an underground water source in addition to that linked to the minerals of the lunar regolith (upper layer composed of stone and dust).
NASA is already preparing a mission to probe the presence of water on the Moon. The VIPER rover will land on the Moon in 2023 to carry out this mission. It will map and analyze the concentration of water ice in near real time.