Chinese scientists revealed that lunar probes have found traces of water in moon samples on their surface. The discovery marks an important milestone in China’s rapidly developing space program.
Moon samples collected by the Chang’e-5 rover during its 2020 mission were successfully returned to Earth, containing rock and soil from the lunar surface. According to a study published in the journal Nature Astronomy, these samples indicated the presence of small amounts of water.
While a NASA infrared detector had already confirmed the existence of water on the moon in 2020, and previous analyses of samples from the 1960s and 1970s also found traces of water, the Chang’e-5 samples offer new insights. The samples were collected from a much higher latitude, suggesting that water molecules can persist in sunlit areas of the moon as hydrated salts.
This mission was the first in four decades to bring back lunar samples, following the historic landing of Chang’e-4 on the moon’s far side in January 2019. More recently, the Chang’e-6 lunar probe completed its mission to collect the first samples from the far side of the moon.
Over the past decade, China has invested heavily in its space program, aiming to match the achievements of space powers like the United States and Russia. China has constructed a space station and is the third nation to send astronauts into orbit. By 2030, China aims to send a crewed mission to the moon and establish a base on the lunar surface.
