Chinese scientists have discovered signs of water in samples that China extracted from a lava plain on the moon, bringing the Chinese closer to understanding its origin there.
In a research paper published in the journal Nature this week, the scientists said they analyzed the solid remains of lava that a Chinese unmanned mission excavated from the plain known as the “Storm Ocean”, and found evidence of water in the form of hydroxide encased in a crystalline mineral known as apatite.
Hydroxide, which consists of one hydrogen and one oxygen versus two hydrogen and one oxygen atom in a water molecule, has also been found in samples extracted by NASA decades ago.
It was widely believed that most of the water on the Moon was the result of chemical processes caused by the explosion of charged particles from the Sun on the Moon’s surface.
The scientists said the source of the hydroxide found in minerals such as apatite is very likely to be original.
They added that “the hydroxide contents in the foreign materials resulting from the collision processes may be negligible.”
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They said the Chinese samples indicated that little or no hydroxide in them was from “external sources”.
China’s Chang’e-5 mission returned to Earth 1,731 grams of samples in December 2020 after extracting soil and rocks from a previously unvisited part of the Okeanus Brucellarum plain.
China is expected to send more lunar missions without astronauts in the coming years, and one of its goals will be to study water.
The presence of water on the moon could shed more light on the evolution of the solar system. It can also point the way to the site’s water resources, which is vital to any long-term habitation of humans.
The scientists said: “The sources and distribution of water on the moon is still an unanswered question.”