China’s Chang’e-7 mission this year will be the world’s first to attempt to sample and directly measure water on the moon, but just touching lunar ice could mean losing it, a team of scientists has warned in a new paper.
The 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…