Discovered water on the Moon for the first time, the success of China’s Chang’e 5 Lunar Lander

China’s Chang’e 5 Lunar Lander, which went to the Moon, has discovered important evidence related to water there. This lander has found the first on-site evidence of water on the surface of the Moon. This explains why the moon is dry even after the presence of water. The study, published Saturday in the peer-reviewed journal Science Advances, showed that the soil at the Moon’s landing site contained 120 parts-per-million (ppm) of water. That is, there is 120 grams of water in one ton of soil. The water content here is 180ppm in light and vesicular rock. It is much smaller than Earth. Because of this the Moon is more dry.

Earlier, the presence of water in the Moon was confirmed through remote observations, but Now the lander Signs of water have been found in the rocks and soil there. An instrument aboard the Lunar lander measured the spectral reflectivity of regolith and rock and detected the presence of water on the spot for the first time.

The amount of water can be estimated, because water molecules or hydroxyls are absorbed at a frequency of about three micrometres, Xinhua news agency quoted researchers from the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS). Researchers have said that the solar wind has created the most humidity in the lunar soil. This is because the solar wind brings with it hydrogen, which forms water. According to the researchers, 60ppm of extra water in the rock may have originated from the Moon’s interior. Studies have shown that it dried up over a period of time due to the deteriorating lunar reservoir.

The Chang’e-5 spacecraft had landed on the youngest basalt on the Moon’s mid-high latitudes. It detected water on the spot and collected samples weighing 1,731 grams. Lin Honglei, a researcher, told Xinhua that the samples collected were from both the surface and the bottom. According to the study, the current results are based on preliminary analysis of Chang’e-5 samples.

This finding provides more clues for China’s Chang’e-6 and Chang’e-7 missions. The report said that the investigation related to the presence of water on the Moon is also important because many countries are planning to build manned moon stations in the coming decades.