Untouched Moonstone Dust and Rock Samples Since 1972 Opened

NASA unsealed the box claimed to contain rock and dust from the Moon that had not been touched for 50 years. These materials were collected by NASA astronauts on the mission Apollo 17.

NASA scientists describe this “precious” sample as one of the last pieces left on the Apollo 17 voyage. The sample is stored in a special tube sealed since 1972, citing NASA.

NASA scientists broke that seal in a process carried out on March 21 and 22. The move came on the eve of the launch of NASA’s first Artemis program to return humans to the Moon in May 2022.

“We do this step by step, trying not to lose all the small parts and screws,” said Juliane Gross, deputy curator of Apollo samples. SpaceFriday (25/3).

The sample is said to have been collected by astronauts Eugene Cernan and Harrison Schmitt, who are also geologists in the Taurus-Littrow Valley.

Scientists hope these samples will help prepare for the Artemis lunar program.

For information, this sample of the Apollo 17 73001 core is stored as part of the next Apollo Generation Sample Analysis Program.

In the 1970s, NASA realized that future technology would be able to reveal new information about the Moon, so the agency saved some of the rock for future scientists to analyze.

“We have the opportunity to answer some very important questions about the moon by learning from what was recorded and stored in this Apollo sample regolith,” Francis McCubbin, NASA’s curator of astromaterials, said in the same statement.

The previous six Apollo missions collected 2,196 samples, which weighed 842 lbs or 382 kilograms.

As of the 2019 report, NASA still holds about 85 percent of the lunar rock that astronauts collected during the Apollo program. However, the rest has been used for various scientific purposes such as science, for museums, and some have been used and sent back to NASA.

(ryh / mik)

[Gambas:Video CNN]

–