The lunar soil brought by Chang'e-6 this time has a great surprise.
On June 28, the lunar staff brought back 1935.3 grams of lunar soil, which was an extra shovel compared with Chang'e-5, but the extra shovel allowed people to accidentally discover the hidden secrets of the moon.
What are the secrets in these soils? How do these secrets help humanity develop?
All statements in this article are based on reliable sources of information and are reproduced in the article
Dig an extra shovel
On June 28, the China National Space Administration held a lunar soil handover ceremony in Beijing, and the total soil weight reached 1935.3 grams after preliminary calculations, more than 200 grams more than Chang'e-5, which made countless people excited.
In an auction in New York in 2018, the total weight of three lunar cuttings was only 1.2 grams, but the price had reached a price of 855,000 US dollars, equivalent to more than 560 yuan, which shows how precious lunar soil is.
According to the relevant staff, when digging to the seventh shovel, the container monitor indicated that the target capacity had been reached, that is, it had reached the same weight as Chang'e 5, but the eighth shovel had been excavated at that time, and the container at that time did not look full, so it simply put a mound of soil and pressed it very solid.
Chang'e-5 shoveled 12 shovels when taking soil from the moon was only 1731 grams, while Chang'e-6 8 shovels were 1935.3 grams, and the relevant people said that the sampling point of Chang'e-5 was very hard, and only a little bit could be dug at a time, which shows that the soil retrieved by Chang'e-6 this time is not only large in quantity, but also much higher in quality.
It is understood that the soil brought back by Chang'e-6 was shoveled from the far side of the moon, so the quality is a little higher, is there still a difference between the soil on the front and back of the moon?
According to the relevant personnel, from the appearance, the soil on the opposite side of the moon is thicker than the front side, and there is also the phenomenon of agglomeration.
Why go to the far side of the moon to get soil?
Humans have previously taken 10 samples on the moon, all of which are from the front side of the moon, and the geological age of the samples is about 3 billion years, and the tenth sampling of Lunar 5 is the youngest, about 2 billion years.
However, the geological age of the Chang'e-6 samples is expected to be about 4 billion years, so it is very likely that some unsolved mysteries about the formation and evolution of the moon will be discovered by taking soil from the far side of the moon.
The moon may really have water
Is there water on the moon? How much hydro energy is being developed? These questions have always been the most important thing people want to know when they look up at the starry sky, and they are also the things that scientists are most concerned about.
As early as the fifties of the last century, an American chemist once speculated that there may be depressions on the moon that cannot be reached by the sun, and there are substances like water in them.
In the sixties and seventies of the same year, some American astronauts went to the moon to "see is believing", whether the moon really has water, but unfortunately the lunar soil they brought back was dry.
However, in 1978, scientists detected that the moon contained trace amounts of water, but this did not attract the attention of scientists, and the research on the existence of water on the moon stalled.
It wasn't until the 90s that detectors detected water on the moon, but they never witnessed it with their own eyes, and the soil samples brought back by Chang'e-6 provided new evidence for the existence of water.
The official description is that the soil is clumping and clumping, but we all know that in order to make the soil thick, some moist substances must be added to it to make the soil "wet", and the wetness is not enough to cause agglomeration.
In other words, there is a high probability that water resources exist on the moon, but they may be scarce.
This discovery is undoubtedly explosive news, does it mean that our "moon dream" has a chance to come true?
If the problem of water resources can be solved on the moon, then there is no need to use launch vehicles to transport water to the moon, which provides very important information for future long-term activities on the moon, or even "settling on the moon".
Crucially, some scientists believe that water can not only produce hydrogen, which can be used as fuel for rockets, but also support the development of agriculture on the moon.
If crops can be grown in lunar soil, it will provide a long-term and stable source of food for the lunar base, thereby reducing the dependence on the earth for supplies.
New "surprises" that may exist
The mainland plans to distribute the soil samples brought back by Chang'e-6 to 18 countries, including France, Italy, and Russia, so that they can explore the mysteries of the moon together, and distribute the rest of the soil to some scientific research institutions for them to analyze the materials contained in the lunar soil.
In the lunar soil samples of Chang'e-5, the Academy of Sciences discovered sabite, quartz, graphene, natural glass fibers, and a new mineral, Chang'estone.
It is understood that impact is an important geological process of material mixing on the surface of the moon, and is an important factor controlling the formation and evolution of lunar soil, and high-pressure minerals are important witnesses, but in the first nine lunar soil samples, and even in the meteorites of the moon, only a very small number of high-pressure minerals were found.
However, in the lunar soil samples brought back by Chang'e-5, it was the first time that high-pressure minerals such as quartz and quartz were found, as was graphene and natural glass fiber.
In addition, in the lunar soil samples brought back by Chang'e-5, a new substance was found named "Chang'eite", which is the sixth new mineral found on the moon, and its discovery makes China the third country in the world to discover a new mineral on the moon.
According to scientists, magmatic activity existed on the Moon 1.96 billion years ago, "extending" the lunar lifetime by 1 billion years from previously studied.
The study of lunar soil samples and the emergence of new materials have enriched mankind's understanding of the moon and even the universe, and the "Chang'e era" has arrived.
Therefore, it is very likely that the lunar soil samples brought back by Chang'e-6 will bring us new surprises again, and maybe it will be another discovery of a new substance.
Start a new chapter in lunar exploration
The successful excavation of soil from the far side of the moon by Chang'e-6 is not only a great progress in the aerospace industry, but also a new milestone in human exploration of the moon.
I believe that in the future, our country will have more discoveries and surprises on the moon, and the "lunar dream" we are looking forward to is also approaching it step by step, and maybe it will come true one day in the future.
Moreover, according to the national deployment, the success of Chang'e-6 lunar soil extraction is not the end, and the mainland will have Chang'e-7 and Chang'e-8 missions in the future, and it is to cooperate with many countries to gradually build an international lunar scientific research station at the south pole of the moon.
On the way forward, we will strengthen exchanges and cooperation with other countries in the world, create an open and cooperative space "circle of friends", jointly explore the mysteries of the universe, and solve the unsolved mysteries hidden on the moon.