Solar Winds May Have Brought ‘Water’ to Moon, Study Claims

SunThe model developed by the team behind the new research hints at the presence of a greater abundance of hydrogen near the Moon’s poles.While the presence of water on the surface of the Moon was discovered over a decade ago, a new study has suggested that the star at the heart of the Solar System, the Sun, may be responsible for the existence of this particular element on Earth’s only natural satellite.While there is no water to be found on the Sun itself, solar winds can carry hydrogen ions that may reach distant space rocks.Having analyzed samples of lunar soil retrieved by China’s Chang’e 5 mission, a team of researchers led by Yuchen Xu and Heng-Ci Tian, geochemists from the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), discovered “high concentrations of hydrogen and low deuterium/hydrogen (D/H) ratios that are consistent with lunar water originating from the solar wind,” according to a press release by CAS.Science & TechFirst South Korean Lunar Orbiter Successfully Enters Moon Orbit: Science Ministry28 December 2022, 09:14 GMTThe research team’s model suggests that a greater abundance of hydrogen brought by solar wind may be found in the Moon’s polar regions.”This discovery is of great significance for the future utilization of water resources on the moon,” said Professor Yangting Lin from CAS, the corresponding author of the study. “Also, through particle sorting and heating, it is relatively easy to exploit and use the water contained in the lunar soil.”

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