China’s space mission has discovered a potential water source on the Moon
China’s Chang’e 5 probe has found small glass beads in a lunar impact crater that contain water. Samples collected from a 2020 mission show that these beads contain 2,000 parts per million of water and could therefore be used as a water source for humans in lunar missions.
Researchers say that the beads were formed by asteroid impacts on the Moon or ancient volcanic activity, which contained oxygen atoms. These atoms then combined with hydrogen ions from solar winds in a chemical reaction to form water.
Scientists claim that these glass beads are very small, ranging in size from a few tens of micrometers to a few millimeters, but they are so numerous that they could theoretically provide about 270 trillion kilograms of water. In other words, this water could fill 100 million Olympic-sized swimming pools.