【CHINA DAILY】Experts find way to make better use of lunar samples

Though China now has more than 1.7 kilograms of lunar soil gathered from its historic Chang’e 5 mission, the government practices a prudent policy when it comes to distributing these valuable samples to researchers.

Professor Wang Zaicong, a senior  researcher at the School of Earth Sciences of the China University of  Geosciences in Wuhan, Hubei province, said his team received 200 milligrams of Chang’e 5 lunar soil in July 2021, becoming one of the first recipients of the freshest materials that  mankind has brought back from the moon in more than four decades.

“The samples are very precious and limited. We can only afford at  most 50 milligrams that can be used during experiments and analyses. We must spare no effort to keep sample consumption as low as possible if we want to make good use of our  samples,” he said.

Wang explained that during an experiment or analysis, a certain amount of samples will be used, which means that their inner structure will be irreparably damaged.

Now, a group of researchers at China University of Geosciences headed by the professor has figured out a solution, which they call a novel method for the simultaneous analysis of particle size and mineralogy for lunar soil with minimum sample consumption. They have published  their method in the latest edition of the scientific journal Science China - Earth Sciences.

With a Raman spectroscopy-based particle analysis system, the researchers managed to simultaneously determine the particle size properties and mineral constituents of the soil samples retrieved by the Chang’e 5 probe. The method uses only 30 micrograms, according to their paper.

链接：

http://epaper.chinadaily.com.cn/a/202207/09/WS62c8ceb2a3109375516ed7aa.html