Chang 'e V will bring back 2 kilograms of lunar soil, far exceeding the 326 grams brought back by the Soviet Union three times, ranking second in the world. Long before Chang 'e V went to the moon to dig, the United States hoped that China could share the scientific data of the moon and lunar soil.
From the first landing of1Apollo1in 1969 to the successful landing of1Apollo 17 in February 1972, the United States has successfully landed on the moon six times, bringing back about 382 kilograms of moon rocks and soil samples from the moon, which were collected by various tools. Why do you want the lunar soil of Chang 'e V in China?
The lunar soil collected in China is quite special.
Most of the moon samples mined by the United States and the Soviet Union came from the middle and low latitudes on the front of the moon, and the formation time was concentrated 3.2-4.6 billion years ago. It is through the analysis and testing of these samples that scientists found that the mature age of the moon is 45 1 100 million years. According to the research report, the moon was formed within 60 million years after the birth of the solar system. Early estimates were between 654.38 billion and 200 million years after the formation of the solar system.
Based on this, the time corresponding to the historical events of the moon outside this range is derived by referring to other observation results (mainly crater statistics), thus establishing the evolution history of the moon for about 4.6 billion years, and the geological evolution history of all planets in the solar system except the earth can be based on the moon sample.
Previous studies on lunar soil samples obtained by the United States and the Soviet Union showed that volcanic activity on the moon reached its peak 3.5 billion years ago, and then weakened and stopped. However, the observation on the surface of the moon found that some areas may contain volcanic lava, which was formed from/kloc-0 to 2 billion years ago.
Therefore, scientists need practical evidence to support these conjectures, and the landing site of China's Chang 'e V is near Mons Rümker, a volcanic group1300m high in the north of Oceanus Procellarum. "Science" magazine reported that according to the statistical age model of craters with large errors, there may have been a volcanic eruption here about 65.438+0.3 billion years ago, which was later than the eruption of most moon sea basalts. If the samples collected by Chang 'e V can prove that the moon is still active during this period, the history of the moon will be rewritten.
The article "Remote Sensing Study on the Thickness and Scale of Late Basalt in Storm Ocean Area" mentioned that Storm Ocean is the largest moon sea, with a large area of late basalt (erato Sun Period), which is a good place to study the magmatic activities in the late moon sea. Understanding the thickness, volume and even eruption flux of basalt in the late moon is of great significance for understanding the thermal evolution of the stormy ocean and even the late moon, and is indicative for studying the scale and mode of magma eruption and speculating the possible geological tectonic activities of the moon.
This is why the United States wants the lunar soil brought back by China's Chang 'e V, because there is no such sample in the lunar soil samples currently owned by the United States.
We can learn about the mineral resources of the moon from its soil.
The moon may contain very rare elements on earth. At present, the known Moon Sea basalt contains ilmenite, and Kripke is rich in rare earth elements, such as potassium, phosphorus, uranium and thorium. Scientists speculate that the most common element 17 on the earth is ubiquitous on the moon.
Kryptonite is a brownish-yellow glassy rock with special chemical composition on the moon. It is generally believed that Kripke was caused by a Mars-like object hitting the earth 4.5 billion years ago. The impact caused a lot of matter to flow into the earth's orbit, and then the moon was formed. Most of the material melted on the moon and then formed a magma ocean. The magma sea began to crystallize, olivine, pyroxene and other minerals sank, and then the lunar mantle was formed.
At this time, anorthite began to crystallize. Because of its low density and floating, anorthite slowly crystallizes to form plagioclase shells. This crystallization also formed Kripke rock. Kryptonite on the moon is rich in rare earth elements, thorium and uranium, which is an important mineral resource in the moon resources to be developed and utilized in the future.
In addition, scientists believe that the moon is rich in helium -3, which is the conclusion drawn by analyzing the moon samples brought back from the low orbit of the moon by Apollo probes. Helium -3 can be used in nuclear reactors under construction and planning on earth. Because there are no neutrons in thermonuclear reactors using helium -3 (thermonuclear reaction between helium -3 and deuterium will only produce non-radioactive protons), when using helium -3 as energy source, it will not produce radiation and will not bring harm to the environment. Helium -3 on the moon can meet the global energy demand for at least ten thousand years. Moreover, the fusion of helium -3 and deuterium will provide power for the development of spacecraft. Through fusion propulsion, it can reach Mars in less than 100 days, Jupiter or the sun in 200 days, and Titan in 3 to 4 years.
From April 2065438 to April 2005, scientists in China gave a reliable estimate of the lunar soil thickness for the first time by using the lunar radar data of the Lunar Rover Chang 'e -3 "Yutu", and thought that the previous estimation methods might generally underestimate the lunar soil thickness and the total helium -3 reserves, and the lunar soil brought back by Chang 'e-5 this time will provide us with more practical data for estimating the total helium-3 reserves.
In addition to helium -3, there are resources such as helium -4, hydrogen, carbon and nitrogen on the moon. In addition, the moon may be rich in high value-added platinum group elements (precious metals). Because many metal asteroids continue to hit the moon, locating and detecting these impact points may find platinum group elements with higher added value.
Storm Ocean is relatively young, rich in radioactive elements such as uranium, thorium and potassium, so this is also the reason why the United States wants the soil sample of China Chang 'e-5 Moon.
The whole world wants China's lunar soil samples.
From this, we can know the value of lunar soil. In addition to the United States, other countries also want the lunar soil of Chang 'e V. Yevgeny Sliuta of the Russian Academy of Sciences told the media that Russian scientists hope to obtain lunar soil samples from their counterparts in China.
Sliuta said: "Of course, ask any scientist in the world, European or American, of course."
As for whether China will share the lunar soil excavated by Chang 'e V, we will wait until Chang 'e V returns successfully. Finally, I wish China's Chang 'e V a successful return.