China's Chang'e 5 lunar lander finds evidence of water

Amazing stuff! What an achievement!

"China’s Chang’e 5 lunar lander became the first to discover water on the moon on-site and in real time.

Water was first discovered on the moon from orbit in 2009 by India’s Chandrayaan-1 mission. The team used NASA’s Moon Mineralogy Mapper instrument to definitively detect water. Since then, water has been extensively mapped from orbit in missions like NASA’s Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter.

The Chang’e 5 lander used its mineralogical spectrometer, which was specifically designed for finding water, to detect the water. It did so by determining spectral reflectance measurements of soil and rocks on the moon.

The water on the moon is believed to be from deposition from solar wind, a constant stream of charged particles coming from the sun. It was found near the Oceanus Procellarum on the moon’s near side.

Chang’e 5 landed on the moon on December 1, 2020 with a mission to collect lunar rocks and soil to bring back to Earth. This is China’s first ever sample return mission, however the country has had four successful robotics missions to the moon before the Chang’e 5. ..."

China's Chang'e 5 lunar lander finds evidence of water - The Robot Report