Billions of tons of water could be contained in tiny “glass beads” covering the lunar surface, according to research by a team of Chinese and British scientists published in journal Nature Geoscience on March 31.
The water could be extracted and used by future lunar missions, the scientists said. The fine glass beads were found in soil samples taken and returned to Earth by the Chinese moon probe Chang’e-5 in December 2020. Analysis of the beads revealed 0.05 percent water on average.
The beads are formed when asteroids or meteors slam into the lunar surface, sending up a shower of molten fragments. Silicate particles coalesce to form the tiny glass beads in the lunar soil, and the solar wind induces hydrogen particles to fuse with oxygen atoms in the bead to produce water. Scientists estimate that up to 270 billion tons of water could be stored this way.
Old Version
