Recently, scientists Chinese discover a new, renewable source of water on the Moon. This was possible after lunar samples collected by the Chang'e-5 mission, which suggest its potential for use by "future explorers" of the satellite.
According to a study published last Monday (28) by the journal Nature Geoscience, the water was inside small glass spheres, formed by violent collisions of space rocks with the surface lunar. The amount of water stored in spheres across the Moon is estimated at 270 trillion kilograms.
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The multicolored and bright glass samples were collected and brought to Earth by China in 2020. In this way, the study shows the opposite of other missions in recent decades, which claimed that the satellite would be devoid of water.
The study by the Chinese Academy of Sciences analyzed about 117 spheres collected from the surface of the Moon in 2020 during the Asian country's Chang'e 5 lunar mission. The Moon is bombarded by tiny meteorites, which results in the formation of spheres. As a result, the heat generated melts the adjacent surface material, which then cools down into the particles.
How are water molecules formed?
The solar wind is a stream of charged particles emitted from the atmosphere of the Sun through the solar system. According to study co-author Mahesh Anand, from the Open University in the United Kingdom, the hydrogen needed to produce water molecules comes from the solar wind. The impact of meteorites and the constant interaction of the solar wind with the lunar surface suggest that this process could constantly produce water.
This water could be extracted by heating the spheres, possibly by future robotic missions. However, further studies are needed to determine whether this would be feasible and, if so, whether the water would be safe to drink. Thus, other planets and bodies in the solar system, such as Mercury, could also have this water generated.
NASA intends to send astronauts to the Moon again by the end of 2025. That mission should focus on the satellite's south pole, where craters are believed to be filled with frozen water.
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