Chinese scientists found water molecules in soil samples that their lunar probe brought back from the moon.

This is not the first time that water It is speculated that it exists on the moon. NASA and Indian space probes have discovered what they believe to be water, and Chinese scientists found water in glass beads on the lunar surface last year. However, this discovery is the first time water in its molecular form H2O has been found in physical samples.

The water molecules were discovered in an area of ​​the moon where it was previously thought that this form of water could not exist. The ideal area for lunar water to form would be the lunar poles, but these areas consist of rocky terrain, making it difficult to collect samples from there.

According to Yuqi Qian, a planetary geologist at the University of Hong Kong who was not involved in the study, molecular water “is not stable in other regions of the moon” and evaporates at lower latitudes where temperatures can exceed 100 degrees Celsius (212 Fahrenheit).

The samples, recovered by China’s Chang’e-5 probe, came from a mid-latitude area on the moon, at 43.1 degrees latitude – an area that is normally “not stable for molecular water,” Qian said. Kring of the Lunar and Planetary Institute explained that although the sample was collected in a mid-latitude area, “it was not clear whether it was formed there. Impact processes can spread rocks across the lunar surface.”

After carefully examining samples collected by China’s Chang’e-5 probe, researchers discovered a “prismatic, plate-like transparent crystal” about the width of a human hair, an “unknown lunar mineral” called ULM-1.

According to the study published in the Journal of Nature Astronomy, the ULM-1 crystal (with the chemical formula (NH4)MgCl3·6H2O) is about 41 percent water, with ammonia components that keep the H2O molecules stable despite the moon’s wide temperature fluctuations.

The scientists behind the study wrote that this water could be a potential “resource for colonizing the moon.”

“The discovery of a hydrated mineral at the Chang’e-5 landing site is intriguing and will further improve our understanding of the reactions of rock and steam in the lunar crust and on the lunar surface,” said David A. Kring, senior scientist at the Lunar and Planetary Institute in Texas, who was not involved in the study. CNN.