CCTV News: Recently, the scientific research team of the Institute of Geology and Earth science of the Chinese Academy of Sciences obtained the space weathering information of key substances on the surface of the lunar soil particles through the detection and analysis of a single Chang'e-5 lunar soil particle. This result was recently published in the international academic journal Geophysical Research Letters.
For billions of years, the lunar surface has been subjected to intense space weathering, including micrometeorite impacts, radiation from the solar wind, and galactic cosmic rays. These processes have greatly modified the microscopic morphology, crystal structure, and chemical composition of the material on the lunar surface. The Institute of Geology and Geo-Earth Sciences of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, together with the scientific research team of the Beijing High Pressure Science Center and the National Space Science Center, used a series of analytical methods to obtain the space weathering information of silicates, oxides, phosphates and sulfides on the surface of a single Chang'e-5 lunar soil particle.
The latest research shows that the space weathering of the Chang'e-5 lunar soil is mainly affected by the combination of micrometeorite impacts, solar wind and cosmic ray irradiation, but the surface structure of different minerals is affected by space weathering. According to experts, the Chang'e-5 sampling site is located in the mid-latitude, although there is no significant difference in the microstructure of the lunar soil particles compared with the Apollo samples, but this latest achievement provides more understanding of the space weathering in the middle latitude of the moon.
Source: CCTV