Its 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 rocket fuel, water on the moon does not behave like it does on Earth. It is locked in frozen soil, not exposed to air and held in place only by cold and vacuum. Advertisement Collecting lunar ice properly could prove far trickier…
First contact: in quest for water on the moon, Chinese team flags risk in touching ice
