Moon: Chinese scientists discover previously unknown deposits of water on the surface
Because of its potential for in-situ resource utilization by future lunar exploration missions and other space missions, lunar surface water has attracted considerable attention.
Now, a research team led by Prof. Sen Hu of the Institute of Geology and Geophysics (IGG) of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) has found that the impact vitrified beads on lunar soil from the Chang'e-5 spacecraft ( CE5) contain water.
Detailed studies show that these glass beads are probably a new reservoir of water on the Moon, whereby there is a kind of dynamic cycle of the lunar surface water due to the intervention of radiation from the "solar wind". The related scientific work was published in the journal Nature.
Simplified lunar water cycle.
Many lunar missions have confirmed the presence of structural water or water ice on the Moon. There is little doubt that most of the lunar surface contains water, even though the amount is much less than on Earth.
Surface water on the Moon shows diurnal cycles and losses to space, indicating that a hydrated layer or reservoir should exist deep in lunar soils to support the retention, release and replenishment of water on the Moon's surface. However, previous studies of the water inventory in lunar soil fine mineral grains, impact agglutinates, volcanic rocks, and pyroclastic glass beads have been unable to explain the retention, release, and replenishment of water. water on the surface of the Moon (i.e. the water cycle on the lunar surface). Therefore, an as yet unidentified reservoir of water must exist in the lunar soil that has the capacity to buffer the water cycle on the lunar surface.
Researcher Huicun He, under the guidance of Prof. Sen Hu, proposed that impact glass microspheres, a ubiquitous component in lunar soils with an amorphous nature, were a potential candidate for investigation of the unidentified hydrated layer or reservoir in lunar soils.
The author systematically characterized the petrography, major elemental composition, water abundance and hydrogen isotopic composition of the impact glass beads returned from the CE5 mission, with the aim of identifying and characterizing the missing water on the lunar surface.
CE5 impact glass beads have homogenous chemical compositions and smooth exposed surfaces. They are characterized by an abundance of water up to about 2,000 μg.g-1, with characteristics of extreme deuterization. The negative correlation between water abundance and hydrogen isotopic composition reflects the fact that the water present in the CE5 impact glass beads comes from solar winds.
The researchers also analyzed water abundance along six transects in five glass spheres, which showed the hydration profiles of water derived from the solar wind. Some glass beads were overlaid by a subsequent outgassing event. The impact glass beads acted like a sponge to buffer the water cycle on the lunar surface. The researchers estimate that the amount of water contributed by the impact glass beads to the lunar soil ranges from 3.0 × 1011 kg to 2.7 × 1014 kg.
"These results indicate that impact glasses on the surface of the Moon and other solar system bodies are capable of storing water derived from the solar wind and releasing it into space," said Prof. Hu. So the solar wind has a positive function in the formation of water on the Moon, while previously it was thought that the solar wind dispersed the atmosphere and water, but now it is believed that on the one hand it can contribute to producing water in the rocks and therefore can contribute to distribute it. Although it is not yet clear how this can happen.
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The article Moon: Chinese scientists discover previously unknown deposits of water on the surface comes from Economic Scenarios .
This is a machine translation of a post published on Scenari Economici at the URL https://scenarieconomici.it/luna-scienziati-cinesi-scoprono-giacimenti-di-acqua-sulla-superficie-prima-sconosciuti/ on Tue, 28 Mar 2023 16:57:10 +0000.