Colette Mattison
According to a Science.org, scientists have confirmed previous scientific predictions that water does exist on the moon by finding water while on the surface of the moon in a Chinese lunar lander. In December 2020, the lander returned with more than 60 ounces of soil and rock samples. Scientists believe that when astronauts are traveling in space, moon’s water can be tapped and utilized for drinking and other purposes.
The H20 molecule was seen in the probe’s data last week, according to a study conducted by scientists at the Chinese Academy of Sciences’ Institute of Geology and Geophysics.
According to a NASA scientist, the moon may contain more water than previously thought. However, earlier missions to space had led scientists to believe that the moon was dry, although indications of hydration on the sunlit surface have been discovered but not confirmed until recently. In the last two decades, researchers from NASA studied Apollo moon samples in 2008 and discovered water molecules in glass beads.
NASA announced that it had verified that the water on the moon was in a sunny region, which occurred one month before China’s lunar mission. They discovered confirmed wavelength signals of water molecules, indicating that water is present on the moon and not just near its poles, using a Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy (SOFIA).
The Chinese probe, Chang’E-5, detected indications of water in the soil where it landed, which they believe was caused by gases emanating off the sun creating water through solar wind. When solar wind struck oxygen on the moon’s soil and rocks, it created water. Water was produced when solar wind came into contact with the atmosphere on the moon’s surface and rocks. The rock from the same location had a greater concentration of water than the surrounding earth.
Since the Soviet Union’s Luna 24 in 1976, no mission has collected and returned samples to Earth, until now. NASA last gathered moon rock samples in 1972, almost 50 years ago.
