Yesterday (12th), the National Space Administration held the launch ceremony of the first batch of lunar scientific research samples for the Chang'e-5 mission, which marked the official launch of lunar sample scientific research.

  The first batch of lunar scientific research samples released totaled 17.4764 grams, which were divided into 31 parts and distributed to 13 scientific research institutions.

Including 6 pieces of 157.6 mg of light sheet samples, 13 pieces of 868.8 mg of cuttings samples, and 16.45 grams of powder samples.

  Information on the first batch of lunar scientific research samples was released on the Internet on April 13 this year, and applications for borrowing have begun to be accepted.

A total of 44 scientific research samples were released in the first batch, totaling 56.8812 grams.

On May 31, the deadline for application acceptance, a total of 85 applications from 23 scientific research institutions were received.

After review by the review committee, 31 applications from 13 scientific research institutions were approved.

  In the future, the National Space Administration will release new scientific research samples based on the progress of the sample processing of the ground application system.

It is tentatively planned that the next application review for the loan of lunar scientific research samples will be scheduled in September this year.

Liu Jizhong, deputy commander-in-chief of the lunar exploration project, director of the National Space Administration's Lunar Exploration and Space Engineering Center:

The scientific research of our samples is open to all scientists.

We also welcome more international scientists to apply for research together with Chinese scientists.

The first batch of samples for the Chang'e 5 was obtained through the table

  On December 17 last year, the Chang'e-5 probe successfully completed the lunar sample return mission and brought back lunar samples belonging to the Chinese.

After the samples returned to the earth, the scientific research team of the ground application system processed the samples. Currently, the first batch of samples is obtained through the table.

After the drilled samples are processed, the sample information will also be released for scientists to apply and research.

  During the mission of collecting samples on the moon by the Chang'e-5 probe, the probe obtained about 1,731 grams of lunar samples in two ways: surface picking and drilling.

The samples issued this time are all obtained from Chang'e-5 through the table.

Li Chunlai, deputy chief designer of the third phase of the lunar exploration project, ground application system chief engineer:

The samples currently distributed are all shovel samples, which are taken by us.

The total weight of the samples taken in the table is about 1.4 kilograms, but the drilled samples are actually very few and have a certain depth.

Therefore, in order to improve its spatial resolution, each of our samples only represents a depth of 1.5 cm, but this leads to a very small content of each of our drilled samples, some only tens of milligrams, and most of the samples are less than one gram.

  At present, the processing of the samples taken from the table is basically completed, and the processing, preparation and basic analysis of the drilled samples are still in progress.

In order to avoid loss, the processing and analysis of the drilled samples need to be more refined, so the time required is longer.

For subsequent applications for drilling samples, the requirements will be higher and stricter.

Li Chunlai, deputy chief designer of the third phase of the lunar exploration project, ground application system chief engineer:

Once the samples are worn out, we will never have them. They are all samples of a few ten grams, so we will be very cautious.

We will release the drilled samples only after we have processed it very well.

In the following research, we may need to analyze the plan in a very detailed and very complete manner and the objectives of the analysis and scientific research are appropriate before we distribute the drilled samples to scientists who have good scientific ideas and scientific goals for research.

Exclusive Secret: What is the lunar soil like?

  Since Chang'e 5 successfully returned to the earth with the lunar soil, I believe many people are very curious, what does the lunar soil look like?

Today, we come to see its true content!

  The lunar soil seen by the naked eye is like black sand, but with finer grains and dryness without moisture.

But the lunar soil seen under the microscope not only has color, but also has different shapes.

Li Chunlai, deputy chief designer of the third phase of the lunar exploration project, ground application system chief engineer:

This is our lunar soil, the original state of the lunar soil without any crushing and grinding under the microscope.

We can see that many lunar rocks should be basalt. After it is broken and disintegrated, some things still retain their original mineral composition. We usually call it rock debris, which is rock debris, but it is physically smaller. However, all its original structure and mineral relations remain the same as the original basalt.

If there are some minerals, it has become a single mineral, that is, each mineral is separated from each other, and it becomes independent among the minerals.

Look at the yellow, we generally think it should be olivine, brown is usually glass, and white is generally plagioclase, and some dark ones are generally pyroxene, which is the most important thing in basalt Of several mineral components.

  Li Chunlai introduced that unlike the soil on the earth's surface, the lunar soil has relatively small particles due to many factors.

At present, the samples collected by Chang'e-5 have an average particle size of less than 10 microns.

Li Chunlai, deputy chief designer of the third phase of the lunar exploration project, ground application system chief engineer:

The environment on the surface of the moon is very harsh. It has a temperature of about 160 degrees above zero when the sun is shining, and it is below zero when there is no sunlight. A temperature of about 180 degrees and a temperature difference of about 340 degrees will cause the rock to continuously undergo thermal expansion and contraction, and it will collapse.

Another reason is that the surface of the moon will be hit by many small celestial bodies and small fragments, which is also a factor in its physical fragmentation.

  In addition, because there is no magnetic field on the moon's surface, the solar wind can directly bombard the rocks on the moon's surface, and the accumulation of time will cause the rocks to break or even powder.

Li Chunlai, deputy chief designer of the third phase of the lunar exploration project, ground application system chief engineer:

There are also particles of a few tenths of a micron, a few millimeters, and even centimeter-level particles, all of which are available, but on average there are less than 10 Micron is very, very broken.

This is still different and inconsistent with our original ideas and our original understanding. It is also different from the Apollo sample, which is a very fine lunar soil sample.