Chinese researchers studied samples of lunar soil that were brought to Earth as part of the Chang'e-5 mission, and found that they contain much more water carried by the solar wind than previously thought. From this, scientists concluded that the moon may have a large amount of water resources available for use, according to Xinhua..

The existence of water on the Moon was known from previous studies.. It was assumed that its important sources on the surface of the Earth's satellite are the influence of the solar wind, the release of volcanic gases, and collisions with asteroids and comets..

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But how does water appear on the moon? How much of it is contained in the lunar soil? How is it distributed in space These questions are still open. A study of lunar soil samples collected by Chang'e-5 shed light on them.

Lin Yanting, a researcher at the Institute of Geology and Geophysics of the Chinese Academy of Sciences who led the study, explained that the water in question is not water in the usual sense, but structural water contained in soil grains.. Since hydrogen is one of the main components of water, the concentration of hydrogen is usually used to express the water content..

During the study, scientists studied 17 samples of lunar soil, which contained various minerals, including olivine, pyroxene, plagioclase and glass.. Scientists have found that the average water content in the uppermost 0.1-micron zone of lunar grains is 0.7 weight percent, which is quite high for non-aqueous minerals.. Then, using the ratios of deuterium and hydrogen, they proved that the water on the lunar surface was obtained exclusively from the solar wind..

The scientists then conducted simulations of the conservation of hydrogen in the lunar soil at different temperatures and found that water formed by the solar wind can be well preserved in middle and high latitudes..

The researchers also built a dynamic equilibrium model between solar wind hydrogen input and heating losses.. As a result, they found that the soil at high latitudes of the moon can contain large amounts of water..

Previously, scientists said that the water on the moon may be of terrestrial origin. According to them, it could appear on the satellite of our planet due to the action of the "