The presence of water in rocks collected by the Chang’e 5 lander on the moon has been verified by tests on Earth, according to Chinese experts.
According to RT, the scientists published their findings in the journal Nature Communications this week.
In December 2020, the lunar lander landed on the moon and collected around 1.7 kg of regolith, a combination of rocks and lunar dirt.
The drone employed its onboard equipment to determine the chemical nature of the substance.
The researchers were able to discover that water molecules may be found in 120 parts per million on some rocks and 180 parts per million on others using the data.
In a recent breakthrough, a team from the Chinese Academy of Sciences verified the presence of water in the samples while analyzing the samples that were returned to Earth.
Surprisingly, the soil sample the researchers examined was quite dry, even by lunar standards, since it revealed 28.5 parts per million water levels.
They also discovered that mineral apatite, which was identified in the samples, had a water content of 179 ppm, which was in line with previous forecasts.
It’s important to note that previous observations from telescopes and satellites led specialists to believe that the moon rocks had water in the form of hydroxyl, or H20.
Experts such as astronauts and cosmonauts are supposed to be able to extract molecular oxygen and hydrogen from the atmosphere in order to generate water and oxygen for their use.
