HISTORIC DISCOVERY: China’s Chang’e-5 lunar probe first to find water on the moon up close

CHINA CREATES HISTORY: China’s Chang’e 5 lunar lander just marked a historic first: The spacecraft became the first to detect water on the moon at its landing site in real time. Chinese scientists have found water molecules in lunar soil for the first time, a discovery that could be fundamental for understanding how the moon evolved and how to exploit its resources. Chang’e 5 found water at its landing site near Oceanus Procellarum on the moon’s near side, using an instrument that detects water by determining spectral reflectance measurements of regolith (soil) and rocks. Water was first definitively detected on the moon from orbit, by India’s Chandrayaan-1 mission using NASA’s Moon Mineralogy Mapper instrument (following several tentative detections beforehand by other missions and telescopes). #chinaspace #changE5 #chinatech