By Keith Walsh
The quest for knowledge of the heavenly bodies beyond Earth sometimes takes the form of a global competition. China just scored a coup by discovering water on the moon, encapsulated in glass spheres brought home by their probe Chang’e-5 in 2020.
NASA already discovered water in craters of the moon way back in the 90s, and soil samples collected by the Apollo missions of the late 60s and 70s were found to contain hydrogen, an essential component of water. However, these glass crystals – some 1,731 grams brought to Earth by Chang’e-5 in 2020 – present a previously unrecognized source of the precious liquid.
According to scientists, these small glass beads –not more than 10s of micrometers each — were formed from 2 billion to a millions of years ago, when asteroids and meteors smashed into the moon’s surface at tremendous velocities, ejecting molten material that become spherical due to their falling motion while interacting with solar winds.
These beads were found in large swathes of regolith, or masses of various types of rocks, pebbles and stone.
Hidden Water Source: Glass Beads On Space dot com
Asteroid Story At Popular Science dot com
Featured image from Axel at Adobe Stock
finis
Wow! Fascinating!