Chinese scientists have discovered a new lunar mineral through the investigation of samples returned from the Moon by the Chang’e-5 mission the country, the China National Space Administration (CNSA) and the China Atomic Energy Authority (CAEA) jointly announced.
It is the first new mineral discovered on the Moon by China, and the sixth by mankind. The new find makes China the third country to have discovered a new mineral on the surface of our natural satellitesaid Dong Baotong, deputy director of the CAEA.
The new mineral, which has been named Changesite-(Y)is a kind of transparent and colorless columnar crystal.
It was discovered from an analysis of lunar basalt particles by a team of experts from the Beijing Uranium Geology Research Institute (Briug), a subsidiary of the China National Nuclear Corporation.
Changesite-(Y) has been officially approved as a new mineral by the New Minerals CommissionNomenclature and Classification of the International Mineralogical Association.
Li Ziying, director of the Briug research team, said the discovery has great scientific significance for the study of lunar minerals, lunar evolution, and deep space exploration.
In 2020, the Chang’e-5 mission removed samples from the Moon weighing regarding 1,731 gramswhich were the first lunar samples returned to Earth in more than 40 years.
Li said that he team of scientists were able to make the new discovery due to technological progressas well as the unique environment of the Chang’e-5 probe sampling site, in the northwestern region of the Oceanus Procellarum, also known as the Ocean of Storms, on the Moon.
This site was chosen because the region has a relatively young geological age.compared to the sample areas selected by the United States and the Soviet Union.
As one of many research institutions involved in lunar sample research, Briug focuses on fission and fusion element research in samples, providing basic data for lunar evolution research and resource assessment. moles.
When in July 2021 the research team obtained the first 50 milligrams of lunar samples for mineralogical investigation, they found some traces of a new mineral. But it failed to obtain the ideal data to determine its nature, since the lunar soil particles were too small.
The team then requested a second batch of samples, which weighed regarding 15 milligrams. From more than 140,000 tiny particles, the researchers finally selected a pure single crystal particle, which is 10 by 7 by 4 microns in size, less than a tenth of the average diameter of the human hair. The team decoded its crystal structure and verified that it is a new mineral.
