A Chinese research team has warned that collecting water ice from the moon's south pole could be challenging due to its unique properties. The ice is locked in frozen soil, held only by extreme cold and vacuum. This insight comes ahead of the Chang'e-7 mission.
A team from China's Harbin Institute of Technology and the Chinese Academy of Sciences has published a paper in the Chinese Journal of Space Science this month, highlighting that collecting lunar ice could prove far trickier than measuring it. Water on the moon does not behave like on Earth; it is locked in frozen soil, not exposed to air and held in place only by cold and vacuum.
The Chang'e-7 spacecraft is expected to touch down near the rim of Shackleton crater at the lunar south pole, where it will deploy a rover and hopper to search for ice. While water could support long-term human activity on the moon—from providing drinking water and oxygen to producing rocket fuel—proper collection poses risks.
As the Chang'e-7 sampler on the rover's robotic arm scrapes into icy soil, even slight warming from contact and friction could loosen water molecules, the researchers wrote. This caution underscores the complexities of lunar exploration, building on insights from missions like Apollo 16.