Lunar soil gifts given to France, Russia
China’s space agency revealed the country recently gifted France and Russia with small samples of lunar soil, which are expected to help scientists in the two countries make giant leaps in their understanding of the evolution of the moon.
During his visit to China earlier this month, French President Emmanuel Macron was presented with 1.5 grams of moon dust for research purposes that had been brought to Earth by the Chang’e-5 space mission, according to Guan Feng from the China National Space Administration in Anhui province.
The sample included 1g of material scooped from the moon’s surface and 0.5g of subsurface material obtained from drilling.
In February 2022, Russian President Vladimir Putin also brought home 1.5g of Chang’e-5 samples after his visit to China. In return, during President Xi Jinping’s trip to Russia this March, he was presented with 1.5g of lunar soil obtained during the Soviet Luna-16 mission in 1970, Guan told the audience during the opening ceremony of this year’s Space Day of China in Hefei yesterday.
“This gift from China to France is proof of the strong friendship and partnership between our two countries,” said French geologist Thomas Smith, from the Institute of Geology and Geophysics, at the Chinese Academy of Sciences in Beijing.
“Chang’e-5 samples are the first material brought back from the moon after the Apollo and
Luna missions. They represent the youngest-ever lunar soils brought back to Earth. Therefore, they are of high scientific value and give insights into the events that happened late in the moon’s history,” said Smith, who was the first foreign national to receive Chang’e-5 samples in 2021.
During the fifth mission of China’s Lunar Exploration Programme in 2020, the Chang’e-5 probe landed near Mons Rumker in the Ocean of Storms, a vast lunar mare on the northwest edge of the nearside of -he moon. The probe sent back a total of 1,731g of lunar samples.
Analyses have shown the samples are about 2 billion years old, much younger than the Apollo and Luna rocks, which are between 3 billion and 4.4 billion years old. The findings indicate that the moon still had active volcanoes 2 billion years ago – more recently than previously thought.
Five batches of samples, weighing a total 65.1g, have been distributed to nearly 100 teams at universities and research institutes across the country for analysis, according to Guan.
Smith has received 400 milligrams of soil, as well as two tiny particles for study.
Guan said China would begin accepting international applications for Chang’e-5 samples later this year.
China aims to be the first country to bring samples from the far side of the moon during its Chang’e-6 mission in 2024.
Since the probe would be equipped with a French instrument, France was likely to become one of the first countries to receive samples once the mission was completed, observers said.