Directly on the surface, China's Chang'o-5 lunar probe has found water, the first lunar sample to be returned to Earth in decades.
Chang'o-5 was launched to the Moon on 24 November 2020 and landed on Oceanus Procellarum, a very complex region of the Moon, on 1 December. The probe's mission to the planet was the first to return lunar samples to Earth since the Soviet Luna 24 mission in 1976. The spacecraft landed on Earth on 16 December with 1731 grams of rock samples on board.
Samples are constantly being tested, and recently researchers have made a major discovery. A Science Advances a study published in the scientific journal, found that the moon dust contains a minimal amount of water, which is a significant result because future water exploration and extraction is crucial for mankind to build a base for the On the moon. Only a very small amount of water, about 120 parts per million, was detected in the material, which scientists believe was carried to the body by the solar wind.
Chang'o-5 opened a new chapter in the history of Chinese space exploration: the first Chinese spacecraft to successfully collect samples on the Moon, the first to fly from an extraterrestrial body, the first to join an orbiting vehicle in lunar orbit and the first to return soil samples intact to Earth's atmosphere.
The space probe is named after the moon goddess Chang-o from ancient Chinese mythology, who flew to the Moon after drinking a magic potion that brought eternal life.
