Scientists from Great Britain have received rare samples of lunar dust, which China lent. Researchers hope that studying them will help them learn more about how the Moon was formed and about the early years of the Earth's existence. This is reported by UNN with reference to the BBC.
The first samples of lunar rock arrived in Great Britain from China, which China collected stones during its "Chang'e-5" space mission in 2020, when the device landed on a volcanic area called Mons Rumker. Following the long tradition of global cooperation between scientists, China has for the first time given seven international researchers access to samples to allow them to make new discoveries.
Professor Mahesh Anand, the only scientist in Great Britain who was lent this extremely rare material, describes it as "more valuable than gold dust".
"No one in the world has had access to China's samples, so this is a great honor and a huge privilege. China is far ahead of us in terms of investment in space programs," he said.
According to the publication, after grinding and processing the dust with lasers, Professor Anand's team hopes to answer questions about how the Moon was formed and about the early years of planet Earth.
Inside the dust particles may be evidence supporting the theory of scientists that the Moon was formed from debris ejected 4.5 billion years ago when the Earth collided with a planet the size of Mars.
How the research will be conducted
Professor Anand says that scientists do not need more than the 60 mg that they were given.
Believe me, this is enough to keep us busy for many years, because we specialize in working with the microsphere
Technician Kay Knight will prepare the samples and send them to two more laboratories. Next, technician Sasha Verchovsky will heat them to 1400°C on a special device that he has been building since the 1990s. This will help extract carbon, nitrogen and noble gases from them. Research technician James Mulli will determine how much oxygen is contained in the specificity of the dust.
The team has a year to complete the research. Eventually, their search for answers will likely lead to the destruction of the samples.
I really hope that this is the beginning of a long-term collaboration between China and international scientists
Many of us have built our careers working with samples returned by the Apollo missions, and I think this is a fantastic tradition to follow. I hope that other countries will follow this example