Research teams from the Chinese Academy of Sciences have unveiled their latest findings concerning the lunar soil collected by the country's Chang'e-5 lunar probe.

Their paper was published in the journal Geophysical Research Letters last month.

The lunar surface has been suffering intense meteorite impacts and solar wind irradiation for billions of years, which heavily modifies its physical properties, chemical compositions and mineralogical features, and in turn, the optical reflectance spectra of the moon, said the paper.

Using the serial analysis method, researchers obtained space weathering information of silicates, oxides, phosphates and sulfides on the surface of a single particle of lunar soil collected by Chang'e-5.

The paper said micrometeorite impact and solar wind irradiation, the dominant space weathering processes, largely modified the composition and microtexture of soil materials on the moon.

The research will inform people on space weathering in the mid-latitudes of the moon, the evolution of materials on the lunar surface and the changes in the space environment, according to the paper.

(Cover: Lunar soil brought back by the Chang'e-5 lunar probe, Beijing, China, August 26, 2021. /CFP)