PLANETARY scientists in China found hints of a new water reservoir on the Moon in Chang’e-5 samples that show the potential for in-situ resource utilization by future lunar and deep space exploration missions.

The team of researchers led by scientists from the Institute of Geology and Geophysics under the Chinese Academy of Sciences identified that glass beads in Chang’e-5 lunar soils, which were formed from the cooling of melted material ejected by impacts, contain a higher amount of solar wind-derived water than previously thought.

The Chang’e-5 probe, which returned to Earth on Dec. 17, 2020, retrieved a total of 1,731 grams of lunar samples, consisting primarily of rocks and soil from the lunar surface.

Previous lunar missions have revealed the presence of water ice on the Moon. The surface water displays rise and fall within a lunar day and is being lost to space, indicating that there should be a hydrated layer or reservoir at depth in lunar soils to sustain the retention, release, and replenishment of lunar surface water, according to the study.

However, the water inventories of fine mineral grains in lunar soils, impact-produced agglutinates, volcanic rocks and glass beads formed in volcanic eruptions are unable to explain the very water cycle, the researchers said.

Therefore, some lunar researchers inferred the existence of a yet-unidentified water reservoir in lunar soils that has the capacity to buffer that water cycle.

According to the researchers, the interaction of the solar wind with surface materials could produce water and sustain the water cycle, but the host of such a reservoir has yet to be found.

The study published Monday in Nature Geoscience showed that the impact glass beads are likely a new water reservoir on the Moon. (Xinhua)