McCoy and colleagues reported sodium-bearing phosphates, carbonates, sulfates, chlorides and fluorides in Bennu samples, formed as salty water evaporated.
As reported in: McCoy, Russell, Zega et al. (2025). An evaporite sequence from ancient brine recorded in Bennu samples. Nature. doi:10.1038/s41586-024-08495-6
Jin and colleagues found a hydrated ammonium magnesium chloride mineral, about 41% water by weight, in Chang'e-5 soil and ruled out contamination from Earth or the rocket.
As reported in: Jin, Hao, Guo et al. (2024). Evidence of a hydrated mineral enriched in water and ammonium molecules in the Chang’e-5 lunar sample. Nature Astronomy. doi:10.1038/s41550-024-02306-8
Xu and colleagues found high hydrogen levels in the outer rims of Chang'e-5 soil grains, with an isotope signature pointing almost entirely to the solar wind as its source.
As reported in: Xu, Tian, Zhang et al. (2022). High abundance of solar wind-derived water in lunar soils from the middle latitude. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. doi:10.1073/pnas.2214395119
Yada and colleagues described the returned Ryugu particles, millimetre-size and smaller, preserved as they were on the asteroid.
As reported in: Yada, Abe, Okada et al. (2021). Preliminary analysis of the Hayabusa2 samples returned from C-type asteroid Ryugu. Nature Astronomy. doi:10.1038/s41550-021-01550-6
Li and colleagues described the Chang'e-5 soil: very fine grains, a bulk density of about 1.24 g/cm³, and fragments of mostly basalt, glass and agglutinate.
As reported in: Li, Hu, Yang et al. (2021). Characteristics of the lunar samples returned by the Chang’E-5 mission. National Science Review. doi:10.1093/nsr/nwab188
Li and colleagues dated Chang'e-5 basalt to about 2.03 billion years ago, the youngest crystallization age reported for lunar basalt, showing the Moon stayed volcanically active longer than thought.
As reported in: Li, Zhou, Liu et al. (2021). Two-billion-year-old volcanism on the Moon from Chang’e-5 basalts. Nature. doi:10.1038/s41586-021-04100-2
Hui and colleagues reported water in lunar anorthosite (crust) samples, which they took as evidence for a wet early Moon.
As reported in: Hui, Peslier, Zhang et al. (2013). Water in lunar anorthosites and evidence for a wet early Moon. Nature Geoscience. doi:10.1038/ngeo1735
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Saal and colleagues measured volatiles in Apollo volcanic glass beads; modelling gave a best estimate of about 745 ppm of original water, suggesting the Moon is not entirely dry inside.
As reported in: Saal, Hauri, Cascio et al. (2008). Volatile content of lunar volcanic glasses and the presence of water in the Moon’s interior. Nature. doi:10.1038/nature07047
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