China’s Chang’e 5 lunar lander finds water on the moon, but not as much as they hoped

Soil samples collected by China’s Chang’e 5 lunar lander have determined that much of the water on the surface of the moon likely comes from within the moon itself, not solar winds as previously hypothesised. The discovery comes from the first-ever water survey conducted on the surface of the moon and is an important step in China’s ambitions to build a moon base by 2027. But while Chinese scientists discovered water, they found far less of it than initially predicted – a minuscule 30 grams per tonne of soil.