On the 25th, Chang'e-6 landed successfully with the "native products" on the far side of the moon, and the eyes of the whole world focused on these two kilograms of lunar soil.
Each country's aviation bureau wants a piece of the pie, and it is up to China to choose who it will not give to whom.
The mainland also has its own set of secret procedures for lunar soil research, what are the rules, and who will we give them to?
The confidentiality period is one year
NASA Administrator has repeatedly publicly expressed the hope that China can share lunar soil samples, and we have always advocated openness and sharing to jointly promote scientific progress.
According to Academician Ouyang Ziyuan, China will keep its own research confidential for one year, and after one year, we will disclose all relevant data to the world without distinction in the scientific community, and every country can see it.
Instead of blindly complaining and blaming, the United States should first reflect on what it has done and truly show sincerity and action, so as to promote substantive progress in Sino-US space cooperation.
However, more important information will certainly be kept secret by China on its own needs. If further research is desired, unless lunar soil samples collected from China are available.
A sample of lunar soil magnified under a microscope
In fact, the first step of China's lunar research began with 1g of lunar soil donated by the United States. At that time, our research team used this 1g of soil to study dozens of results.
At that time, we did not have rockets, nor did we go to the moon, and the lunar soil given by others was all we studied. Thirty years in Hedong and thirty years in Hexi, the cherished lunar soil is now in China's hands.
China has never deliberately ignored any country, but in fact, the United States itself has set up the "Wolf Clause," which has hindered the normal development of Sino-US space cooperation.
Instead of being suspicious all day long, it is better to change the laws and regulations that hinder cooperation in your own family first, don't keep holding a shelf, looking high, so who wants to play with you?
We don't know who the Chang'e-6 sample will be shared with today, but we can see how China allocated lunar soil during Chang'e-5.
Given as a national gift
The first country to receive a sample of Chang'e-5 lunar soil was Russia, which presented him with 1.5 grams of lunar soil in 2022 as a state gift for the Russian president's visit to China.
The Soviet Union once made a great contribution to the study of the lunar environment. In 1978, Soviet scientists discovered through lunar samples that there was water on the moon.
Russia, as a good friend of ours, also gave us the sample of "Luna 16" that had discovered water in the second year.
The second country to receive a sample of China's moon is France, and French President Emmanuel Macron's visit to China in 2023 is approaching the 60th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between China and France.
As a visit to China and the anniversary, China gave 1.5g of lunar soil to France as a national gift. The French scientific community has been rewarded with more than a dozen research projects.
The 1.5 g sample was divided into two parts, 1 g was the soil on the surface of the moon and 0.5 g was the deep soil obtained from drilling into the moon's subsurface.
France has specially stored them in a drying oven, and only allowed to punch in a strictly controlled environment to prevent pollution, and the project team that applied for lunar samples has built ultra-clean rooms for this purpose.
Perhaps it is precisely because of the experience of this cooperation that France has also actively applied for cooperation in this Chang'e-6 project, allowing Chang'e-6 to help them bring a probe instrument to the moon.
In addition to gifting to foreign countries, we take the most care of research institutions in Hong Kong. In 2020, we not only presented the national flag that had been on the moon to Hong Kong, but also opened applications for lunar soil samples to them.
Why is a handful of soil on the moon so precious? What exactly is the use of studying it?
What the hell is on the moon
Don't look at the lunar soil as just a handful of soil, the amount of information hidden in it is huge. The formation and age of the Moon, are there any resources that can be used on it? The answers to these questions can only be found by studying lunar soil.
Scientists studied the lunar soil brought back by Chang'e-5 and discovered an astonishing fact: volcanic activity on the moon ended much later than we previously thought!
800 million years later! This shows that our previous understanding of the moon may have been very incorrect. The United States believes that the moon "died" 2 billion years ago, and the discovery of Chang'e-5 allowed the moon to live another 800 million years.
More excitingly, research suggests that the high latitudes of the moon may contain large amounts of available water in the form of ice, which is crucial for the establishment of a lunar base in the future.
In addition to water, there is an even more valuable resource in lunar soil – helium-3. Scientists estimate that there are enough helium-3 reserves on the moon for tens of thousands of years.
It is foreseeable that in the near future, we may be able to use helium-3 on the moon to provide a steady stream of clean energy for the earth.
It is expected that by 2035, Chinese astronauts will set foot on the surface of the moon to realize the Chinese nation's "dream of landing on the moon" for thousands of years.
The moon landing is not only for resources and scientific exploration, but also to protect the security of the country, and whoever masters the moon will master the earth.
The reason why the United States engaged in a space race with the Soviet Union during the Cold War was because space was the commanding heights of future human warfare. Laser weapons can be fired from the Moon to the Earth.
Therefore, only by taking the lead can China ensure that the moon is peaceful, for the development of science and all mankind, and will not be used by people with intentions.
The United States has launched a "Prism Project" after launching a few satellites to monitor and listen to wealthy businessmen and politicians all over the world, and if they are allowed to control the moon, I really don't know what they will do.
Fortunately, the path that China has led the world to follow is peace and development. After the return of Chang'e-6, our Chang'e-7 was also put on the agenda.
Chang'e-7 will carry a series of advanced exploration equipment to conduct a detailed survey of the topography, material composition, and underground structure of the moon's south pole, providing a scientific basis for subsequent lunar exploration and resource development.
With the excellent performance of Chang'e-6, countries around the world are applying for Chang'e-7 cooperation qualifications. China has selected several countries, including Russia, Switzerland, Italy, Thailand, Egypt and Bahrain.
We have cooperation with advanced countries as well as support for backward countries. China plans to cooperate with the international community to build an international lunar research station on the surface of the moon around 2030.
Source: Huanqiu.com2023-07-12More than a dozen scientific research project teams in France will use the lunar scientific research samples donated by China