Chinese scientists declare discovery of new moon mineral from lunar rock samples brought back in 2020

Phosphate mineral Changesite-(Y) was isolated using a series of processes, including X-ray diffraction, according to China National Nuclear Corporation

CNNC party official says team measured concentration of Helium-3, a future fusion energy source, in lunar sample for future assessment and exploration

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Rock and dust samples collected by China’s Chang’e-5 moon mission in 2020 have spurred the discovery of a new mineral, named Changesite-(Y), officials announced on Friday. Photo: Chinese National Space Agency Lunar Exploration and Space Engineering Centre

Published: 9:30pm, 9 Sep 2022

Chinese scientists have discovered a new mineral on the moon, making China the third nation after the United States and Russia to have discovered a lunar mineral, officials reported on Friday.

The mineral, called Changesite-(Y), was found in rock and dust samples retrieved from the moon by China’s Chang’e-5 mission, the nation’s first mission to return a lunar sample, which launched in 2020.

A research team from the Beijing Research Institute of Uranium Geology, a subsidiary of the China National Nuclear Corporation (CNNC), isolated a single crystalline particle of the material from more than 140,000 lunar particles using hi-tech processes, including X-ray diffraction, according to Wang Xuejun, a party official with the CNNC.

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The particle was about 10 microns in diameter, or about one-tenth of a human hair, Wang told a press conference on Friday.