“Hey, Orak,” Scorch waved at him, as she entered the dorm room. But Orak didn’t greet her. He was busy packing sciency-looking tools in his backpack.
“Scorch, Scorch,” Verum and Felix called her. Following their voice, Scorch looked outside the window. Verum and Felix were seating in Orak’s Tempus machine.
“What’s happening? What is Orak doing?” Scorch walked towards them and inquired.
“China’s Chang’e 5 lunar probe has found water on the Moon’s surface! Orak wants to go have a look. So, we are going with him!” Verum said.
“I hope you weren’t planning to go without me!” Scorch said, angrily.
“No, no!” Felix shook his head quickly, “We were waiting for you!” He tried to pacify her.
Soon, Orak joined them with his backpack. The Gifted Four fastened their seatbelts and off they went to the Moon!
“While we are on our way, Orak can you tell us more about China’s mission?” Felix said.
“Chang’e-5 lunar probe was China’s Moon mission,” Orak explained, “It was launched on November 23, 2020. On December 1, 2020, it landed on the surface of the Moon. It collected the required data and samples from the Moon’s surface and returned to Earth on December 16, 2020. Ever since then, scientists have been hard at work to study the samples and data.”
“A team of researchers at the Institute of Geology and Geophysics of the Chinese Academy of Sciences was studying the data as well. They found signs of water in the probe’s data. A special device on the probe had detected water in rocks and soil on the Moon’s surface on the spot!” Orak said.
“Woah, that’s a big deal!” Scorch said.
Orak nodded, “The existence of water on the Moon has already been confirmed by observations. But it’s the first-ever on-spot evidence of water on the surface of the Moon! Researchers also found that Moon might have more water than expected.”
“How does water even exist on the Moon?” Verum said.
“Solar winds (stream of charged particles from the Sun) brought most water to the lunar (relating to the Moon) soil. Solar winds have hydrogen that makes up the water. The rest of it may have originated from the interior of the Moon,” Orak answered.
“Interesting,” Felix said, “This discovery will help future Moon missions, won’t it?”
“You’re right, Felix,” Orak replied, “Maybe the water can be used by astronauts who will land on the Moon in the future!”