Has the United States discovered "moon water"? Chang'e 5 new discovery: high content of water in lunar soil
The moon should be the planet that humans have explored the most besides the earth. So far, humans have launched more than 130 lunar probes, including 6 manned lunar spacecraft. In the Apollo manned lunar landing program, 12 astronauts landed on the lunar surface to conduct field investigations. As for why we have to invest so much human, material and financial resources to explore the moon, there are many reasons, one of which is that studying the moon helps to study the origin and evolution of the earth. This is because the moon has almost no atmosphere and no active geological activities, so the rocks on the moon's surface are rarely damaged. The rocks on the moon's surface should be similar to the rocks on the earth 4 billion years ago, so studying the rocks of the moon can make We have learned some basic conditions of the earth 4 billion years ago, and even help us to study the origin of life on earth, the origin of the solar system, and the origin of the universe. In addition, there is a very important reason, that is, exploring the moon can prepare us for the next development and utilization of lunar resources. According to the existing detection situation, scientists have found that there are a lot of natural resources on the surface of the moon. There are more than 100 known minerals, and some of them are very rich in mineral resources. For example, the titanium metal that can be mined in the lunar sea basalt of the moon has at least 100 trillion tons. For another example, the moon has no atmosphere or magnetic field, so there is a large amount of helium-3 blown by the solar wind in the lunar soil, which is a safe, clean and efficient nuclear fusion reaction fuel, known as "perfect energy". The earth's helium-3 content is only a few hundred kilograms, while the moon's helium-3 content is conservatively estimated to be 1 million tons. If the moon's helium-3 is used to generate electricity, it can meet the world's use for 10,000 years, so the moon is also used by the world. It is called the "Persian Gulf" of the 21st century. However, it is not easy to develop the resources of the moon. It is very difficult to go to the moon with the current technology of mankind. At present, only three countries have mastered the technology of landing on the moon. Since lunar resources are widely distributed on the surface of the moon, we need to mine on the moon before it is possible to bring them back to the earth. To develop resources on the moon, we need to work on the surface of the moon for a long time. If we only use the earth for energy Supplies and supplies, the cost will be very high. But if we can solve the supply of energy and materials on the lunar surface, the cost of developing resources on the moon will be lower. For example, water is a very important substance. If we develop water resources on the moon, there is no need to transport water from the earth. Developing water resources on the moon can not only solve the problem of drinking water for astronauts, but also obtain oxygen and hydrogen by decomposing water, which can be used as fuel for spacecraft. The question is, does the moon have water? High levels of water in lunar soil
my country's Chang'e-5 probe brought back precious materials from the moon in December 2020 Scientists have studied these lunar samples. When analyzing the samples through infrared spectroscopy and nano-ion probes, they found that there is a large amount of solar wind-derived water in the surface of the lunar soil minerals brought back by the Chang'e-5 probe, and estimated that the Chang'e-5 probe The samples brought back contained at least 170 ppm water. This study confirmed that minerals on the lunar surface are the main "reservoirs" of water, and provided an important reference for studying the distribution of water in the mid-latitudes of the lunar surface. Water was found in the lunar samples of Chang'e 5. The United States and the former Soviet Union both brought back lunar samples. Did they find water in their samples? Where did this water come from? Some studies have shown that water is ubiquitous in the universe, and water exists on many planets, and some planets even contain more water than Earth. As the largest celestial body closest to the earth, the moon is located in a cosmic space environment similar to that of the earth. In theory, there are many similarities between the earth and the moon. As early as 1952, Harold Urey, the discoverer of deuterium, proposed that there may be water or similar volatile substances in those permanently shadowed areas of the moon. However, many scientists at that time questioned this view. The existence of water on the moon has become a problem. Very controversial topic. Especially in 1969, when the Apollo 11 spacecraft landed on the moon, the instruments on the lunar surface did not find water on the moon, and no water was found in the lunar samples brought back by the astronauts of the Apollo 11 spacecraft, so everyone thought that the moon It is a dry and waterless planet. However, the three probes "Lunar 16", "Lunar 20" and "Lunar 24" launched by the former Soviet Union have successively brought back about 300 grams of lunar samples from the moon. Scientists from the former Soviet Union discovered the samples in the research center There is actually a small amount of water in the lunar soil. Water was also detected in lunar samples brought back by other Apollo lunar spacecraft, but the content of water in these samples was very low, so scientists at the time were not sure whether the water in the samples came from the moon or whether the samples were returning to Earth. At that time, it absorbed water vapor in the atmosphere, so it was not certain that there was water on the moon at that time. Although humans did not go to the moon for sampling in the next 40 to 50 years in 1972, with the advancement of remote sensing technology, some probes have successively discovered evidence of suspected water ice when they probed the moon. . For example, in 1998, the U.S. Lunar Prospector used the onboard gamma ray instrument and neutron spectrometer to discover that the polar regions of the moon are rich in hydrogen. In 2009, the LCROSS probe also found water and water when it hit the moon. and hydroxyl signal. In 2018, the Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Observatory (SOFIA), which was converted from a Boeing 747 aircraft, found that there was water near the crater Clavius in the south of the moon, and the water concentration was about 100-400ppm, which is equivalent to per ton The water in the lunar soil is about 100-400 grams. The previous "evidence" is basically monitored by the instruments carried by the probe. Now new evidence about the existence of water on the moon is found in the samples brought back by the Chang'e 5 probe. This shows that there is water on the surface of the moon. However, the water on the lunar surface is actually very small. One ton of lunar soil may contain only a few hundred grams of water, which is very small compared with the dry deserts and Gobi Desert areas of the earth. The water content is ten kilograms. Where does the moon's water come from?
Although it is now known that water does exist on the moon, there is still no clear answer as to where the water on the moon comes from. However, scientists have made several arguments. The first view is that the water on the lunar surface is brought by small celestial bodies such as comets after hitting the moon. Because these comets from the outer solar system contain a large amount of water ice material, when hitting the moon, a considerable part of the water in the comet may directly evaporate and escape, but some water will remain on the lunar surface. The second view is that there is water in the moon itself, because it is normal for the minerals of these solid planets to contain water. The lander of the Chang'e-5 probe found that the water content in the lunar rock is higher than that in the lunar soil. The lunar rock it detected was formed in the depths of the moon and was splashed out when the meteorite hit the moon. Provides strong evidence for the existence of water in the interior of the moon. The third view is that the water on the lunar surface is blown by the solar wind, because the solar wind contains a large amount of hydrogen, which will combine with the oxygen in the lunar soil minerals to form hydroxyl or even water molecules, and then be preserved in the lunar soil.