Oct. 11th--NIMTE formally received 1.0013g lunar soil from Xuesen Qian Space Technology Laboratory, Chinese Academy of Space Technology, and completed the first sorting work on October 18, marking the official start of Chang'e 5 lunar soil sample research work of NIMTE.
The lunar soil used in this research is the first batch of lunar scientific research samples collected and distributed by Chang'e-5. NIMTE established the lunar soil project guarantee and promotion team at the first time in order to ensure the successful completion of the research on lunar soil samples. After more than two months of efforts, the preparation work has been completed in an orderly manner. At present, a lunar soil physical property research laboratory has been established, and a scientific research team of more than 30 people, including senior experts and outstanding young scientists in the field of amorphous materials research, has been established relying on the Non-crystalline Functional Materials Group, NIMTE. The laboratory is equipped with a series of high-end instruments and equipment, including ultra clean glove box, polarization microscope, precision analytical balance and self-developed high-temperature high-precision nuclear magnetic resonance equipment, and is equipped with intelligent security and video monitoring systems. In the early stage, the scientific researchers used the simulated lunar soil to conduct many drills and records under the microscope, tried various sorting tools, and determined the best sorting tools by comparing the results one by one. These works laid a foundation for rapid sorting and research after the lunar soil arrived.
In the next year, the scientific research team will rely on the self-developed high-temperature high-precision nuclear magnetic resonance equipment and the test center platform of NIMTE to carry out three aspects of research. The first is to quantitatively analyze the H2O and/or O-H bonds content of different composition forms (volcanic glass, impact glass or other particles) in lunar soil, clarify the dynamic process of O-H bond conversion into H2O, the desorption of lunar soil water and its evolution mechanism with temperature, and speculate the possibility of the existence of water on the moon. It is of great scientific significance to clarify the evolution history of the lunar atmospheric environment, such as the origin of the moon, lunar volcanic activity, solar wind radiation and impact of micro meteorites. The second is to analyze the content and atomic structure of 3He in minerals and glasses with different compositions in lunar soil, clarify the rule and mechanism of the influence of compositions on the content of He-3, the release kinetics of He-3 in minerals and glasses with different compositions in lunar soil and its evolution mechanism with temperature, and explore an effective path for scientific utilization of lunar resources. The third is to analyze the residual magnetic field strength of lunar soil particles of different ages and origins (impact, volcanic eruption) after magnetization in the ancient magnetic field, clarify the generation mechanism of the ancient lunar magnetic field, and provide theoretical support for the exploration of important strategic volatile resources such as water and He-3 content.
lunar soil
The first lunar soil sorting