2024-08-07 08:12:16
Chinese scientists, while analyzing soil samples brought back from the Moon, realized that they had discovered something new: together with minerals, water was also found in the soil.
Finding water on the Moon is not new in itself. NASA and Indian spacecraft have spotted what they believe is water on the moon’s surface, and Chinese scientists last year found water trapped in glass beads scattered around the moon.
But this latest discovery, scientists say, is the first time water has been found in physical samples in its molecular form, H2Oh, and importantly, it was taken from a part of the Moon that they previously thought could not contain water in this form.
Scientists have closely studied the Chinese probe Chang’e-5, which will launch in 2020. landed on the lunar surface, collected samples and discovered a “prismatic, plate-like clear crystal” — about the width of a human hair — of an “unknown lunar mineral” that it named ULM-1, the July 16 report said. in a study published in the journal Nature Astronomy.
ULM-1 crystal (chemical formula (NH4)MgCl3-6H2O) is composed of approximately 41 percent of water containing some ammonia, which retains H2And the stability of molecules, despite the temperature fluctuations occurring on the Moon.
Such water could be a potential “source of lunar habitation”, according to a study by scientists.
The discovery is the latest in China’s bid to become a dominant space power with far-reaching ambitions, such as establishing a research base on the moon. The research was widely hailed by Chinese social media users, who cited the space program as a source of national pride.
“The discovery of a hydrated mineral at the Chang’e-5 landing site is fascinating and will further our understanding of rock-vapor reactions in the lunar crust and lunar surface,” said David A. Kring, chief scientist at the Lunar and Planetary Institute in Texas, who was not involved in the study. .
Difficult to extract
According to Yuqi Qian, a planetary geologist at the University of Hong Kong who was not involved in the study, there could be three types of water on the moon.
These are water molecules, the compound we know as H2Oh, and its frozen form is ice and a molecular compound called hydroxyl, a close chemical relative.
Previous discoveries have shown that water was present on the Moon when volcanoes erupted in ancient times — and that the water on the Moon came from those volcanoes — meaning it came from inside the Moon and has been there since the Moon began.
But people didn’t always know there was water on the Moon – even though scientists have theorized its existence for hundreds of years. At times, scientists thought the Moon was dry—especially after samples collected by NASA’s Apollo missions and the Soviet Union’s Luna missions initially failed to find water.
Only in recent years have scientists discovered water, ice and water molecules, mostly found in the dark, cold poles of the Moon, which are out of reach of the Sun. A recent study also suggested that water, or hydroxyl, could be trapped in glass beads scattered on the Moon’s surface, and that the solar wind could transform hydroxyl (chemical formula OH) into water, or H2O.
However, the lunar poles are difficult to navigate due to the rocky terrain, making it difficult for humans to extract water there. Also, in other regions of the Moon, molecular water is “not stable” and evaporates at lower latitudes, where temperatures can exceed 100 degrees Celsius, Qian said.
This new study changes that.
The samples taken by China’s Chang’e-5 probe were taken from the mid-latitude part of the Moon at 43.1 degrees latitude, a region that is generally “not stable for molecular water,” Y. Qian points out. Ammonium was found in the samples, which acted as a stabilizer for water molecules, he notes.
This mechanism also confirms the 2020 NASA’s conclusions came when its SOFIA telescope detected signs of water on the moon’s surface — though scientists at the time couldn’t verify the finding with physical samples or explain exactly how water was preserved on the hot surface.
“I think this new discovery that we can extract molecular water directly from the lunar soil has a lot of potential,” says Y Qian. “I think this is a new mechanism that allows molecular water to become stable on the surface of the Moon.”
DA Kring of the Lunar and Planetary Institute cautioned that although the sample was taken from the mid-latitude region, “it’s unclear whether it formed there. Impact processes can redistribute rocks on the lunar surface.”
China’s space ambitions
A growing number of countries, including the United States, are observing the strategic and scientific benefits of lunar exploration.
China has made rapid progress in recent years, reflecting leader Xi Jinping’s “eternal dream” of turning the country into a space power.
in 2013 China has become the first country in nearly four decades to land a robot on the moon. Later, in 2019, it became the first and only country to land on the far side of the Moon. Three years later, China has completed construction of its newest orbital space station, Tiangong.
And it plans more – until 2030. aims to land astronauts on the Moon and build a scientific research base at the South Pole.
Understanding how water is stored on the Moon is useful because it could help future lunar astronauts find potential resources that could one day be turned into drinking water or even rocket fuel.
After the latest research, many users of the social network Weibo started talking about the possibility of growing plants or crops on the moon using the molecular water in the soil. However, Qian says it is too early to draw such conclusions. Growing anything on the moon would depend on factors such as the abundance of water, which requires more research to confirm.
But he added that “this new phenomenon, this new mechanism … will open the door (to finding) a new form of water.”
DA Kring also cautioned that the results so far “do not have particular implications for the architecture of research missions – although they do indicate that discoveries await those willing and able to explore the Moon”.
China’s rapid progress has caught NASA’s attention. The space agency has been barred from working with its Chinese counterparts since 2011, when Congress passed the Wolf Amendment citing espionage concerns.
But last August, China did open access to the Chang’e-5 samples to the international community.
“We are currently going through a process with our scientists and lawyers to make sure that the instructions and safeguards that the Chinese are asking for do not violate the law, the Wolf Amendment,” NASA Administrator Bill Nelson told CNN recently. “At the moment, I don’t see a violation.”
But such problems prevent China from using the International Space Station (ISS), which has fueled its efforts to build the Tiangong, which has become a challenge for the US, especially given that the ISS is scheduled to launch in 2031. about to be retired.
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2024-08-07 08:12:16