China announced this Friday the discovery of a new mineral on the Moon, called Changesite-(Y), the sixth found by humanity on Earth’s natural satellite.
China thus became the third country to identify an unknown mineral on the Moon, after the United States and Russia.
The vice president of the China Atomic Energy Authority, Dong Baotong, announced the name of the mineral, which is found in lunar basalt particles, at a press conference, according to the official Global Times newspaper.
The International Mineralogical Association’s Commission on New Minerals, Nomenclature and Classification confirmed the discovery, obtained from samples collected by the Chang’e 5 mission from the lunar surface in 2020.
Several institutions in the Asian country participated in the study of the samples, including the Chinese Academy of Sciences and the ministries of Education and Natural Resources.
The scientists stressed that the material collected by China’s lunar mission and the research carried out are of great importance in understanding the origin and evolution of the Moon, as well as the possibilities of using its resources effectively.
Last June, the discovery of high-pressure minerals was announced in samples collected on the Moon’s surface by the same probe, such as fragments of seifertite and stishovite, minerals formed from silicon dioxide subjected to high temperatures and pressures.
The Chang’e program (named for a goddess who, according to Chinese legend, lives on the Moon) began with the launch of a first probe in 2007.
In recent years, Beijing has invested billions of dollars in its space program and has achieved milestones such as the successful landing of a probe on the far side of the Moon in January 2019, an achievement that no country had achieved before.
Source: TSF
