In November 2020, China launched the Chang'e-5 spacecraft into the sky. A few days later, he reached the Moon and began collecting samples from the surface of our planet’s natural satellite. After this, the samples were successfully delivered to Earth and China became the third country in the world that managed to extract lunar soil. Various groups of scientists are still studying the extracted samples, and they regularly share amazing discoveries. Recently, an unexpected substance was discovered in the lunar soil, which calls into question the current understanding of how the Moon was formed.
Scientists have found an unexpected component in samples of lunar soil. Source: russianemirates.com
Contents
- 1 Chinese mission “Chang'e-5”
- 2 Mining and studying of lunar soil
- 3 Graphene was found in lunar soil
- 4 How China is exploring the Moon
Chinese mission “Chang’e-5”< /h2>
As part of the Chang'e-5 mission, Chinese scientists extracted about 2 kilograms of lunar soil. The research apparatus collected material of interest to scientists using a robotic arm, both from the surface and from a depth of up to 2 meters. Once collected, the samples were placed in the ascent module, which took off and transferred its payload to the orbital module. He, in turn, flew towards the Earth and dropped a capsule with lunar soil in the region of Inner Mongolia.
Chinese apparatus “Chang'e-5”. Source: habr.com
Extraction and study of lunar soil
The lunar soil samples were taken from the Oceanus tempestus, the largest lunar sea measuring 2,500 kilometers in length. Scientists immediately discovered that the material they had collected was 2 billion years old. This means that the lunar samples that the Chinese scientists have are older than the materials that were collected in the 1970s as part of the American Apollo program.
A sample of lunar soil obtained as part of the Apollo mission. Source: fishki.net
In 2021, it became known that 90% of the samples obtained are pure regolith, and the remaining 10% are particles of meteorites that fell on the Moon, vitrified materials of volcanic origin, silica, and so on. Most of all, scientists were interested in the presence of basaltic lava, which once again proved that the Moon was a volcanically active object a long time ago.
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Graphene has been found in lunar soil
Recently, scientists shared the news that they found graphene in samples of lunar soil. This is the name of a material that consists of a single layer of carbon atoms and is one of the thinnest and strongest structures in the world.
The fact that carbon material was found in the lunar soil puzzled the authors of the scientific work. Scientists found little carbon in the soil mined in the 1970s. This gave rise to the hypothesis that the Moon appeared as a result of a collision between the Earth and an unknown space object the size of Mars. If this is so, then carbon materials really should have scattered throughout space, and they should not have remained on the Moon.
A material has been discovered in the lunar soil that can change scientists’ understanding of the Moon. Source: mirkosmosa.ru
But now scientists have found carbon material, so the hypothesis has been called into question. However, we cannot exclude the possibility that graphene got to the Moon along with other space objects like meteorites – they fall on its surface very often and carry a variety of materials with them. Perhaps graphene appeared on the Moon as a result of other, even more complex processes. According to the authors of the scientific work, this could also happen under the influence of solar wind and volcanic processes.
Water on the Moon:What the Chinese lunar rover Chang'e-5 discovered
How China is studying the Moon
China is actively studying the Moon, in some ways ahead of the United States and Russia in this regard. Following the success of the Chang'e 5 mission, which collected graphene materials, Chinese researchers embarked on a new mission and recently completed it successfully.
Soil samples from the far side of the Moon fall to the ground. Source: Bloomberg Television
In June 2024, the Chang'e-6 research vehicle successfully delivered soil samples from the far side of the Moon to Earth. They are already in the hands of scientists who have probably already begun to study them. It is expected that the composition of the soil on the far side of the Moon will be very different from the material on the visible side of the Earth's satellite.
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Extracting soil samples from the far side of the Moon is a very difficult task. This requires several spacecraft at once, which must work harmoniously with each other. We talked about why other countries have still not been able to extract soil from the invisible side of the Moon in the article “China, for the first time in history, extracted soil from the far side of the Moon: why couldn’t others do it?” A must read!