the rover Chang’e 5 of China has found small glass beads that contain water in an impact crater on the Moon and that could hydrate and supply the vital liquid to future colonies on Earth’s natural satellite.
According to a report published on the website of Engadget, samples collected from a 2020 mission found pearls with water content up to 2,000 parts per million (PPM). Given the prevalence of these glass spheres on the lunar surface, there may be enough to provide 71 trillion gallons of water.
Some pearls were formed when asteroids collided with the Moon millions of years ago, while others came from ancient volcanoes. Scientists believe the water originated from a chemical reaction when hydrogen ions emitted from the Sun, carried to the lunar surface by solar winds, combined with oxygen atoms inside the pearls.
Water-filled pearls are tiny, ranging from “tens of micrometers to a few millimeters.” Still, there is enough on the Moon’s surface to theoretically supply approximately 270 trillion kilograms of water, enough to fill 100 million Olympic-sized swimming pools.
How will they collect the vital liquid?
Scientists have not yet discovered how to collect the pearls and they would have to heat them to around 212 degrees Fahrenheit to extract the water. Still, they could be a resource for future lunar settlements, where astronauts could use the water for drinking, bathing, cooking, cleaning, and even making rocket fuel.
Experts believe that other moons in our Solar System may have similar objects: “Our direct measurements of this lunar surface water reservoir show that impact glass beads can store substantial amounts of solar wind-derived water on the Moon and suggest that impact glass may be a water reservoir on other airless bodies.”.
“The presence of water, stored in impact glass beads, is consistent with remote sensing of water in the lower latitude regions of the Moon, Vesta, and Mercury. Our findings indicate that impact glasses on the surface of airless bodies in the Solar System are capable of storing water derived from the solar wind and releasing it into space.”, wrote the authors of the study.
