NASA has given green-lighted space agency-funded researchers permission to request access to Chinese lunar samples returned to Earth via that country’s Chang’e-5 moon mission.
In December 2020, China’s Chang’e-5 lunar mission shot 3.8 pounds (1,731 grams) of moon rocks and soil back to Earth from the Oceanus Procellarum exploration site on the moon’s near side.
More recently, China has made these samples available to researchers from countries. The China National Space Administration (CNSA) is now orchestrating the seventh round of receiving requests for access to Chang’e-5 lunar samples, an opportunity open until December 22 this year.
Now, in a NASA Solicitation and Proposal Integrated Review and Evaluation System (NSPIRES) statement, the space agency has signaled its intention to Congress to let NASA-funded researchers apply for access to the Chang’e-5 samples.
“The Chang’e-5 samples come from areas of the moon not yet sampled by NASA and are expected to provide valuable new scientific insight into the moon’s geological history, which could provide new insight into Earth’s lunar system and could potentially provide information to NASA’s future lunar exploration plans,” the statement added. “Requesting samples will ensure that U.S. researchers have the same research capabilities as scientists around the world.”
Related: China opens Chang’e 5 moon samples to international researchers
Application portal
The CNSA application portal opened on November 6 and will not close until December 22. NASA researchers were not cleared to submit applications until Nov. 29, NASA spokesperson Roxana Bardan told Space.com.
If a NASA-funded researcher’s application is selected, NASA must be notified for guidance on next steps, the NASA statement adds. “At this time we have no information on what the post-selection guidance will entail,” Bardan said.
The NSPIRES statement applies the new fee specifically to samples from the Chang’e-5 mission, adding that “the normal prohibition on bilateral activities with the PRC [People’s Republic of China] on NASA-funded projects remains in effect,” the statement said.
Amendment Wolf
There is a US law known as the Wolf Amendment that bans cooperation between the US space agency NASA and Chinese government agencies.
Originally sponsored by now-retired Rep. Frank Wolf (R-VA) when he chaired the House Appropriations Commerce-Justice-Science subcommittee that funds NASA, the amendment was fueled by China’s human rights abuses, theft of American intellectual property, and other geopolitical concerns. issues.
“The Wolf Amendment is not a total ban on cooperation, but NASA must first obtain congressional approval and meet a number of conditions. The language is routinely included in NASA’s annual appropriations bills,” notes Marcia Smith, editor of the informative SpacePolicyOnline. com.
Science diplomacy
Meanwhile, American lunar researchers are excited about NASA’s go-ahead.
“This is excellent news because it gives US-based scientists the opportunity to apply their expertise to investigate these unique lunar samples,” said Clive Neal, a leading expert on the moon at the University of Notre Dame in Indiana. “While a few American scientists were fortunate enough to interpret If the initial age data of the young basalts in the Chang’e-5 sample return and are involved in some of the first publications, this is the first time we have had access to the actual monsters,” he told Space.com.
Neal said he salutes NASA for making this access to Chinese lunar samples possible. “I hope this will lead to an exemplary exchange between the US and China, as happened several times between the US and the Soviet Union during the Cold War,” he said.
Such sample exchanges led to the thawing of relations through “science diplomacy,” Neal said, “and this is a great start.”
New chance
“I’m thrilled to see this new opportunity open for American scientists,” said Lisa Gaddis, director of the Lunar and Planetary Institute under the Universities Space Research Association. “This opens the door to new collaborations and likely new results that will shed light on the origins of some of the youngest volcanic materials sampled on the moon.”
Chang’e-5’s samples come from a previously unsampled lunar region in the northern Oceanus Procellarum, near Mons Rumker, Gaddis said. Some of the most recent (youngest) lunar basalts are observed there, “so understanding their ages helps understand how lunar volcanism changed over time.”
In particular, Gaddis said the Chang’e-5 lunar samples have already raised questions about the moon’s thermal and magmatic evolution, especially how the lunar interior remained warm enough to support such recent volcanism.
Moon puzzle
James Head of Brown University in Rhode Island, a veteran lunar scientist who worked on the Apollo moon program, is equally encouraged by the increased access to research on the Chinese lunar specimens.
“The Chang’e-5 mission has provided an important missing piece of the lunar puzzle by returning samples from the northwest near Oceanus Procellarum, on one of the youngest unsampled lava flow units on the moon,” Head said. “Chinese researchers have provided an important framework for further research to be conducted in this next phase of analysis,” he told Space.com.
“I hope this new development from NASA will pave the way for more international sample sharing in the future as the United States, China and other agencies return additional samples from the moon, Mars, asteroids and comets,” Head said. “The solar system is a large area and planetary science can benefit enormously from complementary, non-duplicative exploration destinations and sharing of samples and other results.”
Monsters on the other side
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Meanwhile, Chinese lunar exploration planners are busy developing the country’s next robotic lunar probe mission, Chang’e-6, set to launch around 2024. This lunar lander will be deployed in the South Pole-Aitken Basin on the far side of the moon. collect samples and then shoot those samples to Earth.
Like the successful Chang’e-5 return sample probe, Chang’e-6 will consist of four components: an orbiter, lander, ascender and return-to-Earth module.
According to Chinese lunar experts, Chang’e-6 will attempt to collect one to two kilograms of lunar samples. If successful, Chang’e-6 would mark the first returned samples from the far side of the moon.