China discovers energetic materials from moon rock and soil

BEIJING – China claims to have discovered a new mineral on the lunar surface, namely phosphate minerals in columnar crystals called Changesite- (Y).

New mineral discoveries have been identified in rock and soil samples reported from the lunar surface in 2020.

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The mineral was carefully separated by the research team from over 140,000 tiny particles and analyzed using advanced mineralogical methods.

According to the Beijing Geological Research Institute of Uranium, it is not yet known whether the new mineral has properties that can be used on earth.

The phosphate present in the earth is an important element for plant growth, but its properties in crystalline form are not yet known.

The announcement places China as the third country to discover a new mineral on the moon after the United States and Russia.

Changesite- (Y) belongs to the category of lunar merrillite, a mineral found in moon rocks and meteorites, as well as being the sixth new mineral discovered by man since the first samples were collected during the Apollo 11 mission in 1969.

Phosphate is also a natural source of phosphorus, an element that provides a quarter of all the nutrients plants need.

Exposure to high levels of phosphorus in the human body can affect health by extracting calcium “from the bones”, thereby weakening the body.

On the moon, this element plays an important role in helping astronauts farm on the lunar surface.

The mineral is brought back to earth from Chang’e-5 on December 17, 2020.

(wb)

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