Chinese scientists have found, according to a study published in the special Journal of Nature Geoscience, the presence of water in crystals impacted on the Moon. This is a discovery made by mission Chang’e 5 (CE5) .
The group is led by a teacher Sen Hu The Chinese Academy of Sciences concluded that the crystals are probably a new reservoir of water (with an estimated capacity of between 300 and 270,000 million tons) on the Moon, recording the entry and exit of water from the solar wind and acting as shock absorbers. to the lunar surface water cycle.
As the publication mentions, surface water from this satellite arouses the interest of the scientific community due to its potential to be used in situ for future exploration missions.
They later confirmed several lunar missions in the presence of water or a form of ice In the case of the Moon, there is little doubt that the star contains the element on its surface, although much less than the Earth.
Scientists believe that water resources have yet to be identified that have the ability to counteract the lunar surface water cycle, that is, to retain water on the satellite and not escape into space.
One of the members of the Chinese team suggested that these impact crystals, a ubiquitous presence in the lunar soil, could be a candidate for these investigations of “unidentified water or water reservoirs”.
The supply of water to the winds of the sun
Mission collected from crystals Chang’e 5 – which landed on the moon in December 2020 to collect lunar samples two days before returning to Earth – “homogeneous chemical compositions and smooth surfaces”.
They are their own abundance of waterand he probably reckons it by his composition the winds of the sun. These crystals acted as a “sponge to moisten the surface of the lunar water cycle,” according to the researchers’ conclusions.
“These findings indicate that impact crystals on the surface of the Moon and other atmospheric bodies in the Solar System can store water derived from the solar wind and dissolve it into space,” Professor Hu said.
The Chinese university study was done in collaboration with Nanjing University, the Open University, the Natural History Museum, the University of Manchester and the University of Science and Technology of China.
