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At 6:59 a.m. on December 8, the Chang’e-5 ascendant controlled the landing. Prior to this, the Chang’e-5 orbital return assembly successfully detached from the ascendant and entered the standby phase around the moon.According to the plan, China will bring around 2 kilograms of lunar samples from the moon, which is expected to become the third country in the world to return samples from the moon. In fact, in 1978, the United States once gifted China a 1-gram specimen of lunar rock. Where is this gram of Moon Rock now?
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(Original title: Where did the gram of moon rock that the United States gave to China at the time come from?)
China News Service, Beijing, December 9 Title: Where did the gram of moon rock that the United States gave China at the time come from?
China News Agency reporter Guo Chaokai
0.5 grams of moon rock Photo courtesy of the Beijing Planetarium
0.5 g for research
In 1978, in order to promote the establishment of diplomatic relations between China and the United States as soon as possible, the Assistant for National Security Affairs of the then President of the United States, Brzezinski, visited China. To show his sincerity, Brzezinski brought with him a special gift: a sample of moon rock that weighed 1 gram.
The rock melted into a piece of Plexiglas. But is this specimen really moon rock? When was it collected? The Americans did not explain these situations, so the Chinese had to study them. After obtaining this precious moon rock specimen, the General Office of the State Council of China listened to the advice of the Chinese Academy of Sciences and decided to delegate the moon rock research task to Ouyang Ziyuan of the Institute of Geochemistry of the Academy of China Sciences. Ouyang Ziyuan, who was 43 at the time, was rushed to Beijing to preside over Yueyan’s investigative work.
The first chief scientist of China’s lunar exploration project, later known as “Chang’e’s Father,” was originally an astrochemist. After obtaining the 1 gram specimen of moon rock, Ouyang Ziyuan carefully took 0.5 gram for research. “It was handed over to us by the Chinese Academy of Sciences for research. We organized relevant experts across the country to conduct non-destructive research first and then destructive research. We study chemical composition, isotopes, minerals, and the sun in the moon. It is still in the back. The investigation has consumed half a gram in total, “Ouyang Ziyuan told the media.
“Just by studying this 0.5 gram of stone, we published a total of 14 related articles.” Ouyang Ziyuan recalled: “Americans say Chinese scientists are great!” Now, the origin of this 1 gram of moon rock has been fully understood. This “soybean”-sized lunar rock was a sample collected by astronauts on the US manned Apollo 17 spacecraft from the landing area southeast of the moon Chenghai in December 1972. It belongs to the lunar high-titanium marine basalt.
At 22:00 on December 2, after approximately 19 hours of work on the lunar surface, the Chang’e-5 probe of the China lunar exploration project successfully completed the automatic sampling of the lunar surface, and the samples they were packaged and stored in the storage device carried by the ascender in a predetermined way. The image shows the Chang’e-5 probe auto-sampling the lunar surface Photo courtesy of the China National Space Administration
0.5g for display
After 0.5 grams of moon rock is depleted due to scientific research, where should the remaining 0.5 grams of moon rock be stored?
Ouyang Ziyuan hopes the rest of Moon Rock can “let everyone see.” After much deliberation, he felt the most appropriate thing to do was to put it in the planetarium. The Beijing Planetarium has thus become the “home” of this Banke Yueyan.
Why choose to store it at the Beijing Planetarium? “That’s because the Beijing Planetarium was the only large-scale planetarium in mainland China at the time. Even today, there is only one in the country. The Shanghai Planetarium is still under construction,” said Zhu Jin, former curator of the Planetarium. from Beijing, to a reporter for the China News Agency.
Construction of the Beijing Planetarium, located on Xizhimenwai Street, Beijing, began in 1954 and opened in September 1957 to welcome guests. At that time, the Beijing Planetarium was not only the first large-scale planetarium in China, but also the first large-scale planetarium on the Asian continent.
Zhu Jin said that after Ouyang Ziyuan and other experts completed the moon rock study, the remaining 0.5 grams were transferred to the Beijing Planetarium for conservation. At present, this 0.5 gram moon rock is located in the “Lunar Meteorite Display Area” on the first floor of Hall B of the Beijing Planetarium. There are also exhibits related to the China lunar exploration project in the exhibition area. This Bankeyue Rock is also known as the “Treasury of the City Hall” of the Beijing Planetarium and has attracted many tourists over the years.
“This 0.5 grams of lunar rock is somewhat different from China’s own. I especially hope the success of the Chang’e 5 lunar sampling mission. I hope that the soil or lunar rock samples brought by our own probe will be placed in the Beijing Planetarium in the future. On display, “said Zhu Jin excitedly.
At 12:35 p.m. on December 6, Beijing time, the Chang’e-5 orbiter and return assembly successfully separated from the ascendant and entered the standby phase around the moon, ready to return to Earth. . The image shows the simulation diagram after the orbital return assembly detaches from the elevator Photo courtesy of the China National Space Administration
2 kg “pick up at home”
For scientific research, the gram of moon rock donated by the United States is only “a drop in the bucket,” and Chinese scientists can only save money with it. When can the Chinese go to the moon and collect their own moon samples? This issue has received attention from all parties, and lunar exploration work has also been placed on the agenda.
In January 2004, the State Council of China formally approved the establishment of the lunar exploration project. After research and decision, China’s lunar exploration project was named “Project Chang’e”, and the first satellite in lunar orbit was named Chang’e-1. The successful implementation of the mission from Chang’e 1 to Chang’e 4 has successfully completed the first two steps of the three-step “circumference, drop and return” strategy for the lunar exploration project; and Chang’e 5 takes on the important task of completing the third step of the “sample return.” .
On November 24, 2020, the Chang’e-5 probe was launched in Wenchang and rushed to “Guanghan Palace”. It will go through 11 stages, more than 20 days in orbit, collect around 2 kilograms of lunar samples, and return to Earth.
At 10:00 p.m. on December 2, after approximately 19 hours of work on the lunar surface, the Chang’e-5 probe successfully completed the automatic sampling of the lunar surface, and the samples were packaged and stored in the storage device that carries the ascender in a predetermined way. At present, the Chang’e-5 orbital return assembly has successfully separated from the ascendant, has entered the standby phase around the moon, and will return to earth in due course.
From 1 gram to about 2 kg, it’s 42 years in an instant. Soon, the returner Chang’e-5 will carry lunar samples, return to Earth with a semi-ballistic jump reentry technology, and finally land at the Siziwang Banner landing site in Inner Mongolia. This “local product” of the moon is getting closer and closer to the Chinese people.
