IT House January 10 news, according to science and technology daily report, through the Chang'e 5 carried by the "lunar mineral spectral analyzer" probe data show that the Chinese Academy of Sciences Institute of Geology and Geophysics and other units of researchers for the first time to obtain the lunar surface in situ conditions of the water content, they found that 1 ton of lunar soil in about 120 grams of water, 1 ton of rock in about 180 grams of water.
The Chang'e-5 spectrometer made spectroscopic observations of an area about 2 meters square in the sampling area, and the object of observation had a rock that had not been brought back in addition to the lunar soil. The data analysis results show that the water content in the Chang'e-5 sampling area is below 120 ppm, while the water content in the rock is about 180 ppm. This equates to about 120 grams of water in a 1 ton of lunar soil and about 180 grams of water in a ton of rock.
Compared with the 120ppm water content in the lunar soil, there is still 60ppm more water in the rock, and where does the extra water come from? Researchers speculate that the rocks come from areas older than the basalt native to the Chang'e-5 landing site, and that the excess water may represent water inside the moon.
It is worth mentioning that unlike liquid water in the general sense, the "water" detected by the spectrometer on the lunar surface refers to the water molecules or hydroxyl groups in the minerals, which are hidden in rocks and can only be converted into water we drink under certain conditions. Water molecules represent "bound water" that can run out with a little heating, and hydroxyl groups represent "structural water" that requires higher temperatures to precipitate.
IT House learned that the relevant research results were published online on January 8 in Science- Progress.