First contact: in quest for water on the moon, Chinese team flags risk in touching ice

China's Chang'e-7 mission, launching this year, aims to be the first to directly sample and measure water on the moon, specifically near the Shackleton crater at the lunar south pole. The mission will deploy a rover and hopper to search for ice, which could potentially support future human activity by providing resources like drinking water and rocket fuel. However, Chinese scientists from the Harbin Institute of Technology and the Chinese Academy of Sciences warn that even slight warming from contact and friction during sample collection could cause water molecules to loosen and be lost. The team emphasizes that properly collecting lunar ice will be more challenging than simply measuring it due to the unique way water is trapped in the lunar soil.

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