Journal Article

Distribution and Abundance of Solar Wind‐Derived Water in Chang'E‐5 Core Samples and Its Implications

Tian, Heng‐Ci, Lin, Yangting, Xu, Yuchen, Li, Qiuli, Li, Ruiying, Li, Xianhua, Yang, Wei, Jin, Ziliang, Hao, Jialong, Yue, Zongyu, Wei, Yong, Hu, Sen, Zhang, Chi, Wu, Fuyuan

2024

Overview

Knowledge regarding the abundance and distribution of solar wind (SW)‐sourced water (OH/H2O) on the Moon in the shallow subsurface remains limited. Here, we report the NanoSIMS measurements of H abundances and D/H ratios on soil grains from three deepest sections of the Chang'E‐5 drill core sampled at depths of 0.45–0.8 m. High water contents of 0.13–1.3 wt.% are present on approximately half of the grain surfaces (topmost ∼100 nm), comparable to the values of Chang'E‐5 scooped soils. The extremely low δD values (as low as −995‰) and negative correlations between δD and water contents indicate that SW implantation is an important source of water beneath the lunar surface. The results are indicative of homogeneous distribution of SW‐derived water in the vertical direction, providing compelling evidence for the well‐mixed nature of the lunar regolith. Moreover, the findings demonstrate that the shallow subsurface regolith of the Moon contains a considerable amount of water. Plain Language Summary Recently, China's Chang'E‐5 mission targeted a higher latitude on the Moon than previous Apollo and Luna missions, and brought back scooped and drilled samples to the Earth. These new soil samples provide an opportunity to investigate the distribution, abundance, and origin(s) of water in Moon's middle latitude. Here, we focus on using the NanoSIMS technique to analyze water content on soil near‐surface regions to understand whether the solar wind (SW)‐derived water could be preserved after burial at depth. Our results show that more than half of the core soils have high water contents on the rims of grains, similar to those of the Chang'E‐5 scooped soils. This finding suggests that the SW remains an important source of water in the Moon's subsurface. Our work provides direct evidence that the lunar regolith below the surface contains considerable water from SW implantation. This type of water could be a promising water resource in future exploration. Key Points More than half of the soils from the single drill core have high water contents and low D/H ratios below the surface The solar wind (SW)‐derived water could be preserved for hundreds of millions of years if buried at depth Lunar regolith from the drill core contains considerable water from SW implantation, which is much more accessible

• Publisher: John Wiley & Sons, Inc,Wiley
• Subject: Abundance / Chang'E‐5 mission / Chinese spacecraft / Cores / Implantation / Latitude / lunar drill soils / Lunar exploration / Lunar regolith / Lunar surface / Moisture content / Moon / preservation / Regolith / Soil / Soil water / Soils / Solar wind / Space missions / water / Water content / Water depth / Water resources