These findings are based on samples obtained during China’s Chang’e 5 mission in December 2020, which collected material from the lunar surface over a two-week period. . Previous studies of glass beads found in Apollo lunar samples challenged the idea that the Moon was completely dry.

Researchers believe that a significant amount of the Moon’s water is created through a process in which hydrogen ions from solar particles bind with oxygen in lunar soil. The newly discovered reservoir of water, which is stored in amorphous impact glass, could play a crucial role in the Moon’s water cycle. As water is lost to space, it can be replenished from reserves found in glass beads.

According to the researchers, each glass bead can contain up to 2,000 micrograms (0.002 grams) of water for every gram of its mass. Based on an analysis of hydration signatures, they believe that pearls can accumulate water in only a few years.

The implications of these findings for supporting Moon missions and bases are significant. Access to this vast reservoir of water could make living on the lunar surface for extended periods much more comfortable. Furthermore, scientists believe that other “dead bodies” in the Solar System, such as the Moon, could also be storing water in their surface layers in the same way. The team hopes to make more discoveries as they continue to analyze samples from Chang’e 5.

“Impact crystals on the surface of the Moon and other airless bodies in the Solar System are capable of storing wind-derived solar water and releasing it into space,” he says. Study co-author Hu Sen of the Chinese Academy of Sciences. The research has been published in Nature Geoscience.