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Chinese scientists were the first to discover the 6th new mineral on the moon and gave it a beautiful name called Chang'e stone.
But what is surprising is that the United States' exploration of the moon and outer space seems to have started earlier than China, and its achievements have attracted more attention from the industry.
Then why did the United States spend so long and invest so much energy to find Chang'e Stone first?
Chang'eshi
First of all, let's look at what this sixth new mineral is? According to scientists, this is a new phosphate mineral.
Chang'e 5 brought Chang'e stone back from the moon. From the appearance, it looks very crystal-like, with tiny columns and other components covered by raw minerals, such as ironstone, ilmenite , cubic quartz and glass.
So, as a mineral detected by humans in outer space, what are the abnormalities between Chang'e stone? Why is it highly valued by industry insiders?
Chinese scientists were the first to discover Chang'eshi on the moon, and were approved by the International Naming Committee CNMNC, and were confirmed as Chang'eshi. This proves that it is a new mineral found by humans on the moon. It is ranked 6th on the list of new minerals discovered by humans on the moon.
This not only proves that China has made new progress in space exploration, but also marks that all mankind's research on the moon is one step closer.
So, how was Chang'e Stone discovered? In December 2020, the Chang'e 5 lunar landing probe carried a batch of local lunar products during a routine space mission. It covers some minerals from the moon, and people did not think there was anything unusual about this batch of local specialties at that time.
weighs only 1731 grams, but after the Chang'e 5 lunar probe sent it back to Earth, people have found after long-term research that there are many surprising things in these lunar samples.
2021, its samples were opened to the whole society after obtaining consent.
The Beijing Institute of Geology of my country's nuclear industry has been approved for in-depth research on this batch of lunar samples, and later found that it contains calcium fusion nuclear energy nuclides ... These substances provide corresponding data for humans to study lunar motion, lunar fission, and basic geological research on fusion resources.
In the first stage of research, scientists discovered that about 10 microns of particles appeared in this batch of lunar samples.
It is wrapped around greystone, and even if people want to remove it through technology, they have not completely separated the two. Therefore, during this period, scientists still have some difficulties in obtaining ideal structural data.
The sixth largest mineral
When it reached the second research stage, my country's scientific research team conducted several simulation experiments and counted 140,000 particles on the sample target. Finally, the traces of the new Chang'eshi mineral were found.
After observation, people found that although the mass of this single crystal structure is very small, it actually has the properties of fission.
For example, a small particle can actually crack into three small pieces. In a short period of time, it can slowly turn into a purer single crystal particle under the cutting of the focused ion beam electron microscope.
's mass and volume are smaller than that of ordinary people's hair. After physical properties calculation and Raman spectroscopy analysis, this crystal structure was determined by Chinese scientists as a new mineral from the moon that humans had not discovered at that time.
So, why is this mineral called Chang'e stone? Will this be related to the Chang'e 5 probe bringing it back?
In August 2022, scientists sent this new ore to the International Minerals Society and the Naming Committee for discussion. Finally, the naming report of Chang'e stone was unanimously approved and a letter of approval was issued.Therefore, Chang'e Stone was officially approved, and then this type of substance will be uniformly named Chang'e Stone around the world.
. There are actually three main reasons for its naming. For example, it is a commemoration of the Chang'e project that can retrieve such samples. The second is that the pronunciation of this type of mineral is more inclined to the transliteration of Chang'e, whether in Chinese or English.
In addition, it comes from the moon, where Chang'e lives in China, in mythology and legend, and is also the landing site of my country's Chang'e 5 lunar exploration mission.
So after multiple considerations, scientists finally named Chang'e Stone the new name of this mineral, paying tribute to our country's great deep space exploration cause.
Of course, it is precisely because of the discovery of Chang'e stone that marks that China is the third country in the world to discover new minerals on the moon after the United States and the Soviet Union.
So, this raises a new question: Chinese scientists started space exploration missions relatively late, while the United States started earlier, and over the years, they have launched more detection missions. Then why didn’t they find Chang'e Stone first?
Technical progress
People have unfolded this issue, which has caused a lot of discussion. A small number of netizens believe that the moon landing in the United States may be just a movie and is inconsistent with the reality. But this statement is too subjective and therefore ignored for reference.
In fact, this is because the landing point of the United States' exploration of the moon is different from ours.
NASA’s lunar landing point is different from Chang'e 5’s lunar landing point, so the selection directions of nearby sampling points will also be different, which leads to a great difference in the lunar samples that both sides can bring back.
For example, if we run to the mountain or into the desert, then when we want to bring back some soil samples from the tourist area, will it be different because of the place we run to? What are the substances and minerals contained in the sample likely to differ?
Of course, in addition to this objective reason. There is another phenomenon that people cannot ignore, that is, China's emphasis on space exploration has increased significantly.
But on the other hand, whether it is the NASA that formulated the lunar exploration mission or logged into the Mars plan, its importance is no longer as good as that time.
50 years ago, when NASA landed on the moon, more than 300,000 scientific researchers invested in this moon landing plan in the United States, let alone the more money.
But today's U.S. lunar exploration program is different now. Not only has the number of researchers decreased, but the funds invested are also becoming more and more limited.
Although my country's start-up time in lunar exploration and exploration of space is not as high as that of the United States, the technology, manpower and research funds invested now are on a straight upward trend.
Therefore, the proud achievements we have achieved will not only be the Chang'eshi, and there may be more good news in the future.
