NEWS & EVENTS

Water on the Moon has long been a hotspot in lunar research. The main reason is that water could serve as a critical in-situ resource for further exploration of the Moon and beyond. It also contains significant information on the hydration history of the inner solar system. Since the 1990s, different methods have been used to find evidence of lunar water and measure the content. The methods include remote sensing observation, sample analysis, neutron detection, impact test and so on.

In recent years, the Lunar Mineralogical Spectrometer carried by the Chang’e-5 and Chang’e-6 missions provided a good chance for high-spatial-resolution in-situ spectral observation. This allows us to study the water content and changing trend at the two mid-latitude regions on the Moon. Considering the change of lunar surface temperature and the plume-surface interaction during the lander’s descent process, we developed
a combined model to explain the observed decrease of surface water content. 
In addition, lunar south polar regions might contain much more water/ice in the permanently shadowed regions. Chang’e-7 (CE-7) mission is China’s next lunar mission, targeting the lunar south pole. We conducted a comprehensive analysis of the planned landing region of CE-7, including analyzing the chemical compositions, material sources, and volatile characters. We believe this would assist future in-situ analysis.

In this presentation, I will outline the current status and future plan of our investigations of lunar volatiles using data collected by China’s Lunar Exploration Program, eyeing for future lunar resource utilization.

For additional information, please contact Miss TIAN Mingyu, mytian101@connect.hku.hk.