While Apollo beads were volcanic glass, Chang'e-5 beads are impact beads. 'Geophysical models have suggested a very similar sort of process, this is just one of the first demonstrations of it using samples and measured data,' said Dr Norman, who has previously studied beads from both the Apollo and Chang'e-5 missions.ĭr Norman said the higher water concentration in the Chang'e-5 sample compared with the Apollo samples may be due to the different types of rocks. Marc Norman of the Australian National University said the idea that beads played a key role in the Moon's water cycle was very feasible.

Chang'e-5 analysed impact beads, while volcanic beads were found in Apollo samples. There are different types of glass beads on the Moon. Hydrogen interacts with oxygen trapped in the glass to create hydroxyl (OH), an ion that can link up with more hydrogen to form water.

While any water is blasted out of the beads by the initial force of impact, they are porous enough to absorb hydrogen delivered by the solar wind. Previous analysis dating the age of the beads scooped up by Chang'e-5 spacecraft showed the area had been bombarded over the past 2 billion years in a process known as impact gardening. Glass beads are created when micro-meteorites slam into the surface melting rock around them. so is going to have to be bound in a mineral to be stable.' 'It's also close enough to the equator that it's getting a decent amount of sun. 'It's an extraordinarily radioactive part of the Moon. ( NASA/ABC )Ĭhange-5 landed in the Ocean of Storms, a geologically unique area that hadn't previously been sampled, said Craig O'Neill, a planetary scientist at the Queensland University of Technology, who was not involved in the study. Position of the Chang'e 5 landing site compared with the US Apollo and Russian Luna sample return sites.

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