China’s rock samples brought back from the moon shed light on meteor strikes here on Earth, say scientists
- International team examines 215 microscopic glass beads created by heat and pressure of meteorite impacts that were brought back in 2020 moon mission
- Scientists believe samples may help create a timeline showing bombardment of Earth by celestial bodies, including the event that wiped out the dinosaurs
Tiny lunar glass beads that form after asteroid strikes reveal how meteorite impacts on the moon million years ago mirrored those on Earth, including the celestial crash that doomed the dinosaurs, say scientists.
“The moon is the Earth’s natural satellite. Think about the Earth and moon being one system,” said co-author Katarina Miljkovic, an associate professor at the Space Science and Technology Centre at Curtin University in Australia.
“If there was an asteroid break-up or something that would send a flurry of impacts over time, there is no reason to believe that if some of them hit the moon, the Earth was spared entirely,” the planetary scientist said.
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China’s Chang’e 5 lunar mission returns to Earth with moon samples
The international team of 23 scientists from institutes in Australia, Britain, China, Sweden and the United States analysed 215 glass beads with a diameter over 50 micrometres, similar to the size of human hair.
