A new scientific study revealed the discovery of rare meteorite fragments inside the lunar soil collected from the Chinese Chang’e-6 mission, which returned to Earth the first samples in history from the surface of the far side of the Moon in June 2024. Microscopic laboratory analyzes showed the presence of microscopic grains of the type “carbonate chondrites (CI)”, which are asteroids known to contain water and organic materials.
According to the research team, seven tiny fragments were found within the soil dust, characterized by a chemical fingerprint similar to carbonaceous chondrites, despite their extreme scarcity on Earth, as they represent less than 1% of the meteorites that reach its surface. It was found that this material had resulted from the collision of a carbonaceous asteroid with the surface of the moon, which led to the melting and recrystallization of the material.
These results carry important scientific significance regarding the origins of water in the solar system, as they indicate that water-rich asteroids migrated towards the interior regions in the early stages of the formation of the solar system, which contributed to the transfer of essential volatile compounds to both the Earth and the Moon in larger quantities than previously thought.
The researchers confirmed that the moon is considered a preserved geological record, due to the absence of an atmosphere that prevents the destruction or pollution of materials arriving from space, which makes these samples of unique value for re-evaluating theories related to the origin of water and the evolution of the planetary environment.
