The spectrum of CE5-Rock exhibits a strong absorption at 2.85 μm because of the presence of OH/H
2O (
Fig. 2). By contrast, most of the lunar regolith at the landing site exhibit no/weak absorptions at ~2.85 μm, similar to the Moon Mineralogy Mapper (M
3) spectra over the region (
Fig. 2). The 2.85-μm absorption band in the rock spectrum is about twice stronger than that in the regolith spectra, as shown in both their original and the continuum-removed spectra (fig. S4), indicating potentially higher water content in the rock. The water content of each LMS target was estimated (
Fig. 1B), on the basis of the absorption features near 3 μm in the thermally corrected spectra (
8). The effective single-particle absorption thickness (ESPAT) at 2.85 μm was calculated for each of the LMS spectra to derive the water contents (see Materials and Methods). The laboratory studies on hydrous minerals revealed that the absolute water contents can be linearly correlated with the ESPAT values at 2.85 μm (
13,
14), and the linear coefficient varies with the particle size of lunar analogs (
9,
14). The uncertainty of the estimated water content from ESPAT is ~20% (
9). We used the mean particle size of lunar regolith of 60 to 80 μm in our modeling, which is similar to the particle size of the regolith determined by mass at the six Apollo and Chang’E-5 landing sites (
15,
16). The derived water content of the regolith at the Chang’E-5 landing site varies from nearly undetectable [<~30 parts per million (ppm)] to around 120 ppm (
Fig. 1B and table S2). The water contents are less than 30 ppm in most measured regolith spots except for D12 and D17 (
Fig. 1), which may be due to the disturbance of the top layer of the more space-weathered/solar wind–implanted regolith (
17) by the lander exhaust and the subsequent sampling process. The unsampled areas of D12 and D17 may have been shielded by the CE5-Rock from the lander exhaust (fig. S5) and thus retain the top space-weathered layer that contains higher water content. We predict that higher water content may be found in surface regolith than that from the subsurface of the returned borehole samples if the original stratigraphy is preserved. The estimated water contents of the regolith in the landing area are in agreement with those measured in the Apollo regolith samples (
18) and the orbital observations (
9,
19). Similar to the Apollo regolith samples (
18,
20), water in the regolith at Chang’E-5 landing site likely originates mainly from solar wind implantation (
18). To calculate the water content of CE5-Rock, two scenarios were considered in terms of the particle size. The reflectance near 3 μm of CE5-Rock is mostly from the top 1-mm layer (the optical depth of light near 3 μm), because most of the light that propagates beyond the optical depth (approximately in millimeters) cannot be reflected to the sensor. In this case, the derived water content is around 70 ppm (table S2), which is similar to that observed in the surrounding regolith. Thus, it is difficult to determine whether the water came from solar wind implantation or the rock itself derived originally from the lunar interior. Alternatively, the top surface of CE5-Rock may have been space-weathered to fine particles (e.g., 60 to 80 μm), and the derived water content is around 180 ppm, which is much higher than those of the surrounding regolith (
Fig. 1B). The excess water signature in CE5-Rock may suggest extra sources of water in addition to solar wind implantation.
The spectral features of CE5-Rock suggest that it may be transported from a different geologic unit to the Chang’E-5 landing site. The mineral abundances and grain sizes of the regolith and CE5-Rock at the Chang’E-5 landing site were estimated from the reflectance spectra between 0.5 and 2.5 μm acquired by the LMS in conjunction with the Hapke spectral unmixing model (
21,
22) (see Materials and Methods). The endmembers used in the unmixing model are listed in table S3. The modeling results show that the particle sizes are between ~50 and 80 μm for regolith and ~60 μm for CE5-Rock, verifying that the particle size range used to estimate the water content is effective (table S4). The derived mineral composition of the CE5-Rock from the unmixing model is distinct from that of the surrounding regolith (
Fig. 3 and fig. S6), with more abundant plagioclase and less ilmenite (table S4). This is consistent with the lighter color of CE5-Rock. Thus, CE5-Rock could have been excavated and ejected from beneath or the surrounding older low-Ti basalt (
3,
4). Several fresh craters near the Chang’E-5 landing site are large enough to penetrate the top basalt unit (~50 m thick). This is consistent with the M
3 spectra of the ejecta rims of these fresh craters (fig. S3). Alternatively, this rock may have been ejected from the adjacent older low-Ti mare basalt unit (fig. S3). It should be noted that the endmember viability can introduce some uncertainties on the retrieved mineral abundances, and applying unmixing model to nonparticulate samples such as CE5-Rock is not well tested, which both need further study based on the returned samples in the laboratory.
CE5-Rock appears to be full of vesicles (
Fig. 1), suggesting strong volatile degassing during emplacement. Our modeling results suggest that the surface of CE5-Rock is fine-grained in texture, which is also commonly found in rapidly cooled mare basalts of Apollo samples (
23). If that is the case, then our estimation of water content at around 180 ppm based on an effective particle size of 60 to 80 μm is reasonable, which is at least 60 ppm higher than that of the surrounding regolith (
Fig. 1B). The value of 60 ppm is notably higher than our model uncertainty of 36 ppm (20% of 180 ppm). The “excess” water detected in the CE5-Rock may originate from additional sources, such as remnant water within a rock derived originally from the lunar interior (
19,
24–
26). Thus, the magma source of CE5-Rock could be water rich (
27). Notably, the older low-Ti mare basalt unit on the northwest of the sampling site where the CE5-Rock could have been transported also exhibits anomalously high water content that was attributed to a source from the lunar interior (
28). However, it is noteworthy that our model for estimating water content from the visible-near infrared reflectance spectra was developed from powder samples, and it may bring larger uncertainties than 20% when applying to rock samples because of the substantial differences of optical properties between the former and latter. In addition, the estimated water content of CE5-Rock drops to ~70 ppm if we assume a larger effective particle size of CE5-Rock (1 mm), which is equivalent to that of the surrounding regolith and suggests no excess water in CE5-Rock. This case would likely be unrealistic given a rapid cooling implied by the possible vesicles. We thus suggest that CE5-Rock has more inherent water than other materials seen at the site. A future revisit of the water content of CE5-Rock is necessary to nail down whether lunar interior water exists in CE5-Rock when a new model for estimating water content of rock samples will be available. Anyhow, the low water content of the regolith may suggest a dry mantle or substantial degassing at least beneath the Chang’E-5 landing area, which is consistent with the prolonged volcanic eruptions in the PKT region (
29). It remains unclear whether our detected water is hydroxyl or molecular water because of the lack of full coverage of the whole 3-μm region between ~2.65 and 4 μm (
9). Analyzing the water and other volatile contents as well as the speciation of hydroxyl and molecular water of lithic fragments of vesicular rocks in the returned samples is warranted in future studies.