China’s lunar probe has found traces of water in lunar soil samples, Chinese scientists have announced. The Chang-e-5 rover ended its mission in 2020 and returned to Earth with samples of rocks and soil from the moon. The samples “revealed the presence of trace amounts of water,” a group of scientists from Chinese universities wrote in a paper Monday in the journal Nature Astronomy.
25.07.2024 11:00
Photo: SITA/AP, Xinhua/Jin Liwang
On 6/25/2024, China’s Chang’e 6 probe landed on Earth with rock and soil samples from the little-explored far side of the Moon.
NASA’s infrared detector already confirmed the presence of water on the moon in 2020. Scientists have recently found traces of water in new analyzes of samples from the 1960s and 1970s.
However, the Chang-e-5 samples come from much higher latitudes and provide new insights into what water looks like on the moon’s surface, Chinese scientists wrote. The samples suggest that water molecules may persist as hydrated salts in sunlit regions of the Moon.
On July 16, 1969, the three-member crew of the Apollo 11 mission took off from the American Cape Canaveral aboard a Saturn V rocket. It took 102 hours, 45 minutes and 42 seconds for the lunar module Eagle to land on the surface of the moon on July 20, 1969.
The Chang’e-5 probe was the first mission from Earth in four decades to collect samples from the Moon. It followed the first-ever landing of the Chang-e-4 probe on the far side of the moon in January 2019. In June, the Chang-e-6 lunar probe completed its mission, collecting the first samples from the far side of the moon.
China has invested heavily in its space program over the past decade, focusing on ambitious projects in an effort to catch up with traditional space powers the US and Russia. It also built its own space station and became the third country to send humans—tyconauts—into Earth orbit. Beijing also wants to send a manned mission to the moon by 2030 and plans to establish a base on the surface of the moon.
Source: vat.pravda.sk
