Scientists Find Water Molecules in Lunar Rock Sample for the First Time

Chinese scientists discovered water molecules in lunar samples brought back by the Chang'e 5 moon probe, marking the first time whole H2O molecules were found in lunar material. The findings have been published in Nature Astronomy. Smithsonian Magazine reports: The team used X-ray diffraction to analyze the grains of moon soil, in which they found a lunar mineral dubbed ULM-1 whose mass is made up of more than 40 percent water and also includes ammonia. "This is a new form of water stored on the moon," Xiaolong Chen, co-author of the study and physics researcher at the Chinese Academy of Sciences, tells New Scientist's Alex Wilkins. In the words of CNN's Jessie Yeung, water on the moon is nothing new. Though the samples brought back by the U.S. Apollo missions seemed to show that the moon was dry and lifeless, a recent study suggests that water or hydroxyl may be trapped in glass beads on the moon's surface -- and solar winds could turn the hydroxyl (chemical formula OH) into H2O, according to Yeung. And both American and Indian spacecrafts separately registered what is believed to be water on the moon's surface. This recent discovery, however, marks the first time scientists have found whole molecules of H2O in lunar samples. The findings suggest that "water molecules can persist in sunlit areas of the moon in the form of hydrated salts," the authors write in the study.

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