Chinese scientists have discovered water in a lunar soil sample delivered to Earth by the Chang’e-5 automatic station in 2020.
The research article states that the lunar soil sample contains 120 ppm of water, mostly from the solar wind.
The Chinese probe was launched on November 23, 2020. He returned to Earth on December 16 of the same year, delivering 1731 grams of lunar soil.
The manipulator collected lunar rock in the unexplored region of the largest lunar Ocean of Storms.
“This mission is a big technological leap. And while the overall planning of the lunar exploration, which includes entry into orbit, landing and return, is the final stage, for China’s global lunar program, this is just the beginning,” Pei Zhaoyu, deputy director of the Lunar Research Center, explained earlier and the space programs of the National Space Administration of China.
This mission also has quite practical significance. After all, the moon contains not only water, but also rare earth metals used in the high-tech industry. And also a substance that is called the future of earthly energy – helium-3.
Information that there are signs of water on the illuminated side of the moon, known to Russian scientists since 2010, however, for example, their American colleagues refused to believe in it to the last (they found it in 2020).
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