A joint research team led by Profs. LIN Yangting and LIN Honglei from the Institute of Geology and Geophysics of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (IGGCAS) observed water signals in reflectance spectral data from the lunar surface acquired by the Chang'E-5 lander, providing the first evidence of in-situ detection of water on the Moon.
The study was published in Science Advances on January 7, Report informs.
The quantitative spectral analysis indicates that the lunar soil at the landing site contains less than 120 ppm of water, which is mostly attributed to solar wind implantation. This is consistent with the preliminary analysis of the returned Chang'E-5 samples.