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Molecules of H2O have been detected in lunar rocks for the first time in samples picked up by China’s Chang’e 5 spacecraft.
The moon was long thought to be bone dry, but in the past 20 years, we have seen signs of small amounts of water buried below the surface.
In 2008, researchers claimed to have found water in volcanic glass beads in samples of lunar rock collected by the Apollo missions. However, that study and others have since actually detected hydroxyl groups – oxygen and hydrogen bound together – rather than molecules of H2O.
Now, Xiaolong Chen at the Chinese Academy of Sciences in Beijing and his colleagues have analysed around 1000 micrometre-sized grains of lunar soil brought back by Chang’e 5. Using X-ray diffraction, they found a mineral consisting of around 40 per cent H2O, along with ammonia, magnesium and chlorine.