The glass particles of the soil transmitted by the Chang’e-5 device contain water. This has been reported by the Chinese Academy of Sciences.
Although the first signs of the presence of water ice on the Moon were obtained in the 70s, it was finally known only at the beginning of the 21st century. Since then, a lot of research has been done to locate it and develop extraction methods, as the availability of water resources will greatly facilitate its development for humans.
The automatic lunar mission Chang’e-5 was launched in November 2020. It included a return vehicle that brought one and a half kilos of lunar regolith to Earth in December of the same year. Now Professor Hu Sen and PhD student He Hui reviewed found these specimens and water in them. It was surrounded by microscopic balls of glass formed by heat during the meteorite’s fall. While they were unusually low in deuterium, the water content in them was about 2000 micrograms per gram. A similar isotopic composition indicates that this water was formed when the solar wind, composed largely of hydrogen ions, struck the regolith. According to the researchers, the microspheres acted as a sponge that did not allow water to evaporate when heated during the day, because due to the lack of atmosphere, water cannot collect in the form of puddles on the Moon and immediately passes from the ice to the surface. steam.
In total, according to the authors, the Moon could contain more than a billion tons of water held in this form. Similarly, water can accumulate in other celestial bodies that do not have an atmosphere.
Details can be found about humanity’s plans for the development of the moon and the role of lunar water in them. material “socialbites.ca”.