Chinese scientists have discovered the new lunar mineral - Changesite-(Y) [space news]

Описание: Chinese scientists have achieved a remarkable feat in their research of the moon as they have discovered and identified the new lunar mineral.

The China National Space Administration and the China Atomic Energy Authority announced that the new mineral – Changesite-(Y) – was found in samples returned by the country's Chang'e 5 robotic mission.

The Changesite-(Y), which falls in the category of lunar merrillite, has become the first lunar mineral ever discovered and identified by Chinese scientists, making China the third nation in the world, after the United States and Russia,that has achieved such feat.

The mineral sample, in the form of a single-crystalline particle with a diameter of 10 microns, was manually separated by researchers from more than 140,000 tiny particles and then analyzed through a series of advanced mineralogical methods.

The discovery of the new mineral will extensively help researchers in their studies about the history and physical traits of our moon.

The Chang'e 5 robotic mission was launched in november 2020 and successfully landed on the moon on December that year.

About two weeks later the mission returned 1,731 grams of lunar rocks and soil back to Earth.

The China National Space Administration distributed the first batch of Chang'e 5 lunar samples in July 2021.

The samples, weighing about 17.5 grams, were divided into 21 lots and handed over to scientists from 13 domestic research organizations.