A meteorite reveals an ancient secret of the moon. A unique mineral was found

A team of scientists led by geologist Dr. Tara Hayden from the University of Western Ontario found the lunar meteorite, which they studied. Unique metal. Thanks to that, you can say so About 4 billion years ago, the lunar crust was rich in volatile elements.

Scientists say that for the first time in material that is about 4 billion years old and comes from the moon, less — It is a mineral from the phosphate group.

Discovering apatite in the early lunar crust for the first time is very exciting because we can finally begin to piece together this little-known phase of the Moon's history. We found that the Moon's early crust was richer in water than we expectedAnd its volatile and stable isotopes reveal a more complex history than we previously knew, says Dr. Hayden.

Previous Apollo missions have produced unique and astonishing data. As specialists stated at the time, the Silver Globe was “extremely poor” in value Volatile substancesSuch as hydrogen, carbon, chlorine, or sulfur. The presence of these molecules indicates the presence of water at the same time. Hence the conclusion was drawn that the Moon was always “dry”.

However, other recent studies have shown this Water may also be trapped in lunar volcanic glasswhose resources are located in deep, shaded pits.

The meteorite being examined is a piece Lunar brecciaWhich consists of several different minerals. According to scientists, apatite was abundant here. The space rock is very different from the samples returned by the Apollo mission. Therefore, experts suggest that local lunar rocks tell about different stages of the history of our satellite.

We know a lot about the history of water on the Moon from samples from the Apollo program, but these samples are thought to represent only about five percent of the total surface of the Moon. I was lucky because not only did the meteorite come from the Moon, but surprisingly it showed chemical features that are very important to our knowledge of it. Lunar aquifer minerals – explains Dr. Hayden.

He also adds: – It has long been believed that the surface of the Moon was dry thousands or even millions of years ago, but perhaps There may be more water on the moon than we thoughtWe just have to find a way to get it out.

The results of the research were published in a scientific journal Nature astronomy.