The Chinese team of scientists studying the lunar soil samples brought by China’s Chang’e 6 mission published their first research paper on Tuesday, 17 September.
This paper, published by the Journal National Science Review, contains much important data about the soil from the moon’s far side (the side that faces away from us as the moon is tidally locked to the Earth) that has never been studied before. Revealing the distinct composition of the soil brought back by Change’s 6 lunar probes.
China’s Chang’e 6 mission was launched on May 3, 2024, from Wenchang Satellite Launch Center on Hainan Island in China. The probe’s returner spacecraft returned to Earth on June 25, 2024, landing in north China, bringing about 1.935 kilograms of lunar sample from the moon’s far side.
A team of scientists from the National Astronomical Observatories of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, the Lunar Exploration and Space Engineering Center, and the Beijing Institute of Spacecraft System Engineering has been studying the lunar samples brought by China’s Chang’e 6 since then.
The team said the Chang’e-6 samples were “highly significant for scientific research.”
According to the research paper, the soil samples from the moon’s farside are much more distinct than the soil from the moon’s nearside. The soil from the moon’s farside has a much lower density, indicating its porous composition. The plagioclase content in the lunar samples by Chang’e 6 is higher than that of the Chang’e 5 lunar samples, while the olivine is significantly lower.
The lithic fragment samples of the Chang’e 6 mission are mostly composed of basalt, breccia, agglutinate, glasses, and leucocrate. Also, the concentration of trace elements such as thorium, uranium, and potassium is different than the lunar samples brought by the Apollo missions and the Chang’e 5 mission.
These studies will not only help future uncrewed missions but also crewed missions, as China aims to step on the moon by 2030. Knowing the nature and composition of lunar soil can help chinese scientists design a better spacesuit for lunar missions.
