Preface
The statements in this article are based on reliable sources and are repeated at the end of this article
With the successful return of "Little Six" this time, we have once again set a "first in human history". And in addition to this title, this operation also brought back samples of moonback soil that no one had ever seen before, which has unimaginable scientific value. However, these samples still need to be rigorously classified and preliminarily analyzed before they are distributed to units for experimentation according to the project.
So at present, there is no way to get the experimental results of these precious samples, but in addition to the ones brought back by the "Little Five" in our country, we also have the precious materials brought by the "Little Five" before. Seven batches of these samples have been distributed for various experiments, and the part of these samples distributed is about 80 grams.
Don't look at the total number of things given, you must know that these things can be said to be the most precious materials, and the amount that can be applied for each project is calculated in milligrams (mg). And not so long ago, the space center announced the latest list and number of deliveries of the 7th batch. I didn't expect Harbin Institute of Technology to be "among the best" in this table, and obtained a full 1330mg sample!
You must know that the total amount of samples issued in this batch is only more than 8g (that is, about 8000mg), most of which are also given to major research institutions under the Chinese Academy of Sciences. How much did Tsinghua Peking University, as the "leader", get this time? [Beer]
1
Harbin Institute of Technology, which is keen on aerospace projects
It can be said that among China's major universities, Harbin Institute of Technology can be said to be very high in terms of the "enthusiasm" of aerospace engineering. There are a lot of related cooperation and research, and even directly participated in the research and development of many lunar exploration projects and related projects, such as the recent return of "Chang'e 6", which also has a lot of technical support provided by Harbin Institute of Technology.
For example, we all know that for these unmanned detectors, how to stably and accurately control its trajectory can be said to be a big problem, which is a very "challenging" problem in the world. Not to mention that this operation took place on the far side of the moon, even if we prepared the relay satellite in advance, but limited by technology and angle factors, we still face many problems.
The solution to this problem is inseparable from the support of the relevant colleges of Harbin Institute of Technology, who can effectively ensure that the entire task will not be completed due to signal problems. For example, the "Tiandu-2" satellite in our "lunar communication chain", many people don't know, but it was actually developed by Harbin Institute of Technology, and their achievements have also made a lot of contributions to this successful "excavation".
For example, in addition to this aspect, due to the complex environment of outer space, the various materials used this time that seem "ordinary" are actually the products of "high technology". Not to mention that it is too complicated, just look at a very simple bag, its material is a synthetic polymer material, and this thing is used to encapsulate the structure of the collected sample, this achievement comes from the results of a team from the School of Chemistry of Harbin Institute of Technology.
There are many, many other examples like this, and I can't really list them all, but I think the examples we've mentioned above are quite revealing. In this regard, Harbin Institute of Technology is indeed very strong, and it does have its own unique contribution to related projects. I believe that they have sufficient experience and strength in related fields, and they can also effectively use the lunar soil given this time to bring us more scientific research results.
2
How many samples did the two top universities in mainland China get this time?
However, although Harbin Institute of Technology is a top university, I have to say that in the perception of the general people in our country, if you talk about the "top" universities, it has to be the two "super universities" in Qingbei. So how many of the schools that received lunar soil samples each of these two received?
Source: China Lunar Exploration Program - 2024.05.28 "China Lunar Exploration Program: Released the Seventh Batch of 8293.5mg Chang'e-5 Lunar Research Samples"
The answer must be beyond your imagination, in fact, we can look at this table, there are a large number of various colleges and universities and some affiliated research institutes and the like, we only look at the part of the colleges, we can see that the most is Harbin Institute of Technology, followed by Shandong University, about 1000mg, and the "two" only appeared in the figure of Peking University, obtained 300mg, and the other Tsinghua did not appear in the list this time.
Of course, the reason behind this can be said to be very complicated, because the acquisition of this thing does not depend on how much honor or fame you have. In fact, the main impact is whether the project you are applying for has experimental significance in the eyes of the space agency, after all, these samples are very rare, so I still hope that they can be used in more meaningful projects.
And not on this list, in fact, there are two main possibilities, one is that there is no suitable project to submit an application, and the other may be that the project has been submitted, but the priority is not good enough after review, so it is not easy to say the strength or weakness between them. It can only be said that the space bureau still recognizes this project of Harbin Institute of Technology, and is even willing to provide so many valuable materials for them to study.
3
The relevance of lunar research
Some people always say what's the use of doing such research? Or rather, there is some usefulness that can be seen in a short time. In fact, this is actually a study of our "origins". Unlike on Earth, where a large number of geological activities disturb us, many of the early structures have been gradually obscured by various geographical activities. The moon benefits from its environment and is not affected too drastically by frequent geological activities, so many scientists believe that studying the moon can tell the earth's past.
This is actually of great significance, because in fact, understanding the past will in turn let us know how the world evolved to be the way it is today, so that we can better study and solve various problems of today. And if we can build a scientific research station on the moon, we can not only get a lot of valuable research opportunities, but also lay the foundation for transplanetary exploration and even future interstellar migration!
Resources:
[1] China News Network - 2024.06.19 Harbin Institute of Technology took the lead in approving Chang'e-5 1330mg lunar scientific research samples"
[2] China Lunar Exploration Program - 2024.05.28 "China Lunar Exploration Program: Release of the Seventh Batch of 8293.5mg Chang'e-5 Lunar Research Samples"
[3] Poster News - 2024.06.29 "Poster Observation丨The lunar soil brought back by Chang'e-6 may be able to infer the history of the formation and evolution of the solar system"
[4] Life Daily - 2024.06.25 "For the first time in human history! Harbin Institute of Technology helps Chang'e-6 bring "treasures" home》