China announced that it has discovered for the first time a new mineral on the Moon, called Changesite-(Y) and that supposes the sixth mineral found by humanity in the terrestrial satellite, state media reported.
The finding turns the Asian giant into the third country to identify an unknown mineral on the Moon“ttransparent and colorless something they had already achieved United States and Russia.
The vice president of the China Atomic Energy Authority, Dong Baotong, disclosed at a press conference the name of the discovery, a phosphate mineral in columnar crystal found in lunar basaltic particles, the official Global Times newspaper reported this Friday.
The Commission of New Minerals, Nomenclature and Classification of the International Minerological AssociationHe has endorsed the finding, achieved from the samples collected by the Chang’e 5 mission of the lunar surface in 2020, the first obtained in four decades.
Numerous institutions from the Asian giant were involved 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 developed from it are of great importance in understanding the origin and evolution of the moon, as well as the possibilities to use its resources effectively.
Last June, the discovery of high-pressure minerals in the samples collected on the Moon’s surface by this same probe was announced as seifertite and stishovite fragments, minerals formed from silicon dioxide subjected to high temperatures and pressures.
The Chang’e program (named after 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 heavily 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 to date.
EFE