Rahul Somvanshi
A team of UK scientists has received precious lunar samples from China’s Chang’e-5 mission, marking a historic moment in space exploration and international scientific cooperation.
Led by Professor Mahesh Anand, researchers at The Open University in Milton Keynes are among seven international teams granted access to these rare moon materials. The samples, described by Prof Anand as “more precious than gold dust,” are the first lunar materials brought back to Earth since 1976.
“This is a huge privilege,” said Prof Anand. His team will study these tiny lunar grains, which weigh just 60 milligrams in total – about the weight of a small grain of rice – despite the mission returning nearly 1.73 kilograms of material overall.
The Chang’e-5 mission landed in the volcanic Mons Rümker region on the Moon’s near side in December 2020. This area differs from locations visited during earlier Apollo missions, offering fresh insights into lunar formation and evolution.
Scientists handle these samples with extreme care to prevent contamination. They work in specialized clean rooms, wearing full-body protective gear, and store the samples in triple-sealed, nitrogen-filled containers. Even the smallest Earth contamination could ruin delicate measurements.
The research focuses on several key scientific questions. Teams will analyze the samples for carbon, nitrogen, oxygen, and noble gases to better understand how the Moon formed. One major theory they’re testing is the “giant-impact hypothesis,” which suggests the Moon formed when a Mars-sized body called Theia collided with early Earth about 4.5 billion years ago.
Similar Posts
This work could reveal how water and other volatile elements came to be distributed between Earth and the Moon, a question with implications for understanding our planet’s early history.
China has broken new ground in lunar exploration with its sample return missions. Following Chang’e-5’s success, the Chang’e-6 mission brought back 1.9 kilograms of material from the Moon’s far side in June 2024 – the first samples ever retrieved from this previously unexplored region.
Chinese researchers have already made significant discoveries from the Chang’e-5 samples, including hydrated minerals containing water molecules. They’ve also found volcanic glass beads about 120 million years old, which help refine our understanding of lunar volcanic activity and impact events throughout the Solar System’s history.
The sharing of these lunar treasures represents a shift in international space cooperation. China’s National Space Administration (CNSA) selected research teams from the UK, Japan, France, Germany, Pakistan, Russia, and the European Union through a competitive review process. The samples are on loan for one year.
The UK team’s work is supported by the Science and Technology Facilities Council, which has funded the advanced clean-lab facilities needed for this high-precision analysis.
As lunar exploration accelerates globally, these small moon rocks may yield big insights about our closest neighbor and, by extension, Earth itself.
