Moon Water
Scientists have discovered traces of water while analyzing lunar soil samples collected by China's Chang'e-5 rover.
While NASA already announced the discovery of water on the Moon's sunlit areas back in 2020, the new research suggests that water can take on even more forms than previously thought on the lunar surface.
As detailed in a paper published in the journal Nature Astronomy, the samples "revealed the presence of trace water," tantalizing evidence that "water molecules can persist in sunlit areas of the moon in the form of hydrated salts."
On Tap:
China's Chang'e 5 rover, which touched down on the Moon in 2020, marked the first sample return mission to the Moon since the Apollo era decades ago.
It landed on the northern edge of the Oceanus Procellarum, a massive basin on the western edge of the near side of the Moon. The samples it took are from a "much higher latitude" than those collected by NASA in the 60s and 70s.
In 2020, NASA announced it had detected water molecules in a crater found in the Moon's southern hemisphere, using data collected by its Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy (SOFIA), a modified Boeing 747 jumbo jet turned airborne astronomy lab.
The revelation was followed up by China announcing in 2022 that its Chang'e 5 probe had found the first on-site evidence of water on the Moon.
The mission was followed up by China's Chang'e 6 mission, which saw a rover touch down and successfully return samples from the far side of the Moon, which permanently faces away from Earth, earlier this year.
As we continue to find fresh evidence of water on the surface of the Moon, world powers including China, the US, and Russia, are gearing up to establish a more permanent presence there.
While NASA is planning to return the first human astronauts to the lunar surface since the Apollo 17 mission over half a century ago, China is making major strides as well, setting the stage for a lunar space race.