China has shared a look at the first moon samples that returned to Earth in more than 45 years.
The lunar regolith was picked up by the nation’s Chang’e 5 mission that returned in December with 3.8 pounds of earth and rocks from our natural satellite.
The images show samples as small as dust particles to larger chunks, along with samples inside a glass container that will be on display at the National Museum of China.
The vessel is designed as a ritual vessel of Chinese wine, or “zun,” and contains the lunar dust within a sacred sphere representing both the moon and Chang’5’s re-entry capsule.
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China has shared a look at the first moon samples to return to Earth in more than 45 years
China’s lunar mission was the first to return with samples from the former Soviet Union’s Lunar 24 robotic mission in 1976 and is now the 21st mission to settle on the lunar surface.
The Chang’e-5 took off from the top of the Long March-5 rocket in November from the Wenchang launch site in Hainan Province, making it a major breakthrough in the country’s space program.
The probe went to a 4,265-meter-high volcanic complex called Mons Rumker, near the moon, a region known as Oceanus Procellarum, which in Latin means Ocean of Storms.
The area is “very unusual and very close to where we landed before,” said James Head, a professor of geological science at Brown University, after the November launch.
The lunar regolith was picked up by the nation’s Chang’e 5 mission that returned in December with 3.8 pounds of earth and rocks from our natural satellite.
“It raises really important questions, because these samples will tell us to what extent the moon had volcanic activity, which is an indication of the recent that it has been geologically active, a critical issue in the evolution of the planets,” he added. .
Images show samples as small as dust particles to larger chunks, along with samples inside a glass container
The probe returned on December 17 with lunar rocks and soil safely stored inside and China has provided the first official look at the cosmic wonders.
The age of rocks and soil should help scientists fill a gap in knowledge of the history of the Moon about a billion and three billion years ago, Brad Jolliff, director of the McDonnell Center for Space Sciences at the University of Washington in the US city of St. Louis said in an email.
They can also give clues about the availability of economically useful resources on the Moon, such as concentrated hydrogen and oxygen, Jolliff said.
“These samples will be a treasure!” Jolliff said when the probe returned in December.
“My hat is for our Chinese colleagues for having carried out a very difficult mission; the science that will emerge from the analysis of the returned samples will be a legacy that will last for many, many years and hopefully involve the international community of scientists “.
The age of rocks and soil should help scientists fill a gap in knowledge of the Moon’s history about a billion and three billion years ago.
The probe went to a 4,265-meter-high volcanic complex called Mons Rumker, near the moon, a region known as Oceanus Procellarum, which in Latin means Ocean of Storms.
The image shared by China shows samples of fine, granular material, along with pieces of basaltic glass that formed on the surface by lunar volcanism, as described in the image.
Some of the soils collected in 2020 will be on display at the National Museum of China in Beijing, according to CGTN.
The elaborate 38.44-centimeter-tall container is a nod to the average distance between the Earth and the Moon, which is 384,400 kilometers.
It also has a width of 22.89 centimeters, which symbolizes the duration of the Chang’e-5 mission from launch to landing, 22.89 days.
“Eighty percent of the samples will be used for scientific research,” Pei Zhaoyu, deputy designer of China’s Lunar Exploration Program, phase 3 of the CNSA, said during a January 18 press conference. The remaining 20% would be permanently stored.