Source: CCTV.com
CCTV.com News: In December 2020, the Chang'e-5 returner carried about 1731 grams of lunar samples safely. This is the second time that humans successfully collected lunar soil after more than 40 years. How these hard-won precious moon soils are used has always attracted much attention. On July 12 this year, the first batch of lunar scientific research samples were issued, and 31 sample borrowing applications from 13 scientific research institutions were approved. At present, the application for the second batch of lunar scientific research samples is in progress. What do the scientific research samples of lunar soil look like? Which institutions can apply? With these questions in mind, let’s take a look at the reporter’s exclusive secret of Yuelan.
The lunar soil brought back by Chang'e-5 is kept by the National Observatory of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, the responsible unit of the lunar exploration project ground application system. The second batch of lunar scientific research samples will still be distributed in an open-ended application mode. The public can access the China Lunar Exploration and Deep Space Exploration Network to access the lunar and Deep Space Exploration scientific data and sample release system to obtain relevant information and apply for scientific research samples.
Deputy Chief Designer of the Third Phase of the Lunar Exploration Project, Chief Engineer of Ground Application Systems, Li Chunlai: can apply for in-depth research at least three samples. One sample is primitive, that is, powder samples of the moon that have not been processed; another is that we have selected some coarse particles inside, which are also some particulate matter of basalt ; the other is that we have prepared the sample, that is, we have put it in the resin and cured it, and then grind it out of a plane, which we call light sheets.
light sheet is a rock specimen that has been polished and polished on one side, which is convenient for electron microscope observation and electron probe research. This sample can reduce the loss of experiments to lunar soil, so that more institutions and individuals can participate in the research.
Deputy Chief Designer of the Third Phase of the Lunar Exploration Project, Chief Engineer of Ground Application Systems, Li Chunlai: The application for samples is made public to domestic scientists and domestic research units. A comprehensive review and assessment is required. Do the units and individuals applying for samples have this level? Is there any device to do this research? Finally, based on everyone's evaluation, you will give this sample to you for research. This process is relatively strict and scientific.
It is understood that the second batch of lunar samples application will end on September 15.
The lunar samples brought back by Chang'e 5 have extremely high scientific research value. What exactly do these samples look like and where are they stored? After obtaining the license, CCTV reporters from the Central Station exclusively entered the storage location of Chang'e-5 lunar samples. Let’s take a look at these precious extraterrestrial soils.
reporters at the National Observatory of the Chinese Academy of Sciences saw that the laboratory that preserves lunar samples are protected by a number of safety measures. To open the laboratory door, three people need to be present, and can be opened through keys, passwords and iris recognition.
entered the laboratory. The reporter saw that the lunar samples brought back by Chang'e 5 were numbered according to different acquisition methods and sealed in a glass bottle. The lunar soil looked black in an intuitive way. With permission, the researchers allowed the reporter to get close contact with the lunar soil samples in the test chamber.
In the laboratory where lunar samples were stored, the reporter saw three different states of lunar soil samples: powder, granular and light flakes. Different types can be provided for experimental use in different research directions to minimize lunar soil loss.
Deputy Chief Designer of the Third Phase of the Lunar Exploration Project, Chief Engineer of Ground Application System, Li Chunlai: initially has 10 bottles, and many samples have to be divided from the 10 bottles. Each sample is numbered, and now there are more than 1,000 particles. There are nearly 30 samples available for everyone to apply for now, including particles, rock chips, light sheets, and powders.
Li Chunlai introduced that unlike the soil on the earth's surface, the particles in lunar soil are relatively small due to various factors. At present, the average particle size of the samples collected by Chang'e 5 is only about 10 microns.
In the picture just now, these precious lunar soils don’t look much different from the soil on our earth. However, is this really the case? What exactly do these inconspicuous lunar soils look like? Keep reading the reporter's exclusive secrets.
CCTV reporter Li Ning: is the lunar soil sample used to display. Intuitively, it is a dark piece. But if we put it under a high-power microscope, we will see a colorful world.
Deputy Chief Designer of the Third Phase of the Lunar Exploration Project, Chief Engineer of Ground Application Systems: We have selected some larger lunar particles. When we choose large particles of more than one millimeter, the surface will be covered with fine lunar dust. We use alcohol to clean it. The dust we washed off can be used as collection samples for some display. After magnifying 10 times under a microscope, we can see that some moon dust particles themselves are not black, and different minerals will show different colors, such as yellow-green ones, generally olivine , and white ones are generally minerals such as aluminum sodium calcium silicate.
Reporter: also has amber color, right?
Deputy Chief Designer of the Third Phase of the Lunar Exploration Project, Chief Engineer of Ground Application Systems, Li Chunlai: Many of the amber colors are glass.
Reporter: Everyone thinks that glass may be a synthetic product. What is the difference between this glass on the moon and the one on the earth?
Deputy Chief Designer of the Third Phase of the Lunar Exploration Project, Chief Engineer of Ground Application Systems, Li Chunlai: There are at least two forms of glass on the moon. One is that when basalt is magma sprayed out, it turns into glass. This is called volcanic glass . Later, some small celestial bodies are impacted, and a very high temperature is generated during the impact, causing the original stone or impact body to melt. Then it condenses rapidly. The condensed glass is called impact glass.
Li Chun said that through these discoveries, we can initially judge that there have been situations like volcanic eruptions on the moon.
Deputy Chief Designer of the Third Phase of the Lunar Exploration Project, Chief Engineer of Ground Application Systems, Li Chunlai: Our basalt is formed by volcanic eruption, and our html January sea rocks are all produced by volcanic eruptions, just like the volcanic rocks on our earth .
Through the study of element content in lunar soil, it can provide scientific basis for the development and utilization of the moon in the future.
The moon is 380,000 kilometers away from the earth. What is the use of our scientific researchers going through hard work to retrieve the moon's soil? What kind of research will they conduct?
There are many theories about the reason for the formation of the moon. Many scientists believe that the moon was formed by a large collision in the universe 4.5 billion years ago. This theory believes that in the early days of the formation of the earth, a planet once hit the earth, knocking part of the earth out, and a considerable amount of gravel began to orbit the earth, gradually forming the current moon.
Institute of Geology and Geophysics, Chinese Academy of Sciences Li Xianhua Academician: When the solar system was first formed, there was no moon, but there was a primitive earth. A planet of the size of Mars collided with our primitive earth. When two collided, many things were thrown out, forming the moon, forming our current earth-moon system .
Many phenomena provide evidence for the collision theory. Through the analysis of the lunar samples brought back by the Apollo project, scientists found that there are many elements on the moon that are similar to those on the earth. It can be seen that the moon is likely to be of the same origin as the earth, which makes the study of the history of the earth traceable.
Academician Li Xianhua, Institute of Geology and Geophysics, Chinese Academy of Sciences: It is very difficult to study the earth itself, because our earth is too active, so many old information have been erased. Therefore, the earliest rocks we can see on earth are 4 billion years old, and 4 billion years old rocks are you looking for on other planets. So we can infer how the Earth looked in the early days through the research of other planets. If other planets die, how many years can our Earth live?
Through the study of the moon, we can not only understand the past of the earth, but also see the future of the earth.The smaller the mass of a planet, the faster it evolves, so the moon evolves much faster than the Earth.
Deputy Chief Designer of the Third Phase of the Lunar Exploration Project, Chief Engineer of Ground Application Systems, Li Chunlai: 's evolution state is completely different from that of the Earth. Does it have any inspiration to the history of our future evolution? Is our earth also evolving in this direction? This should provide a good reference for the understanding of the evolutionary history and evolutionary trends of the earth.
Li Chunlai introduced that human exploration of Mars is also of great significance to the study of the earth.
Deputy Chief Designer of the Third Phase of the Lunar Exploration Project, Chief Engineer of Ground Application Systems, Li Chunlai: is exactly Mars between the moon and the earth. The diameter of Mars is about half of the earth, and the diameter of the moon is basically half of the earth. So the evolutionary history of these three balls, its rate, its weight or its size, represents different evolutionary speeds, which are equivalent to three different fossils, which can study its different evolutionary stages and evolutionary history.
