Chinese scientists have discovered a new type of mineral called “ULM-1” from lunar soil samples which contains abundant water molecules.
The research team from the Institute of Physics under the Chinese Academy of Sciences told the Xinhua News Agency that they have found “a hydrated mineral with up to six molecules of crystalline water” which account for as much as 41 percent of the sample’s mass.
The sample was collected and brought back to Earth by China’s lunar probe Chang’e-5 in December 2020 which landed on the KREEP area of the Oceanus Procellarum, a huge basaltic plain on the near side of the moon. Scientists said the area contains the youngest basalt on the moon.
Chen Xiaolong, a researcher at the Institute of Physics, said that different from volatile ice and water, the newly discovered hydrates are very stable in high-latitude regions of the moon, even in sunlit areas. This indicates that water molecules may exist on the lunar surface in a potential form of hydrated salts.
The discovery has been published in the journal Nature Astronomy with the potential for exploring how to develop and utilize lunar resources.
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