Beijing, September 9 (Guo Chaokai, Ma Shuaisha) On September 9, on the eve of the Mid-Autumn Festival, a traditional Chinese festival, the China National Space Administration and the State Atomic Energy Agency jointly released the latest scientific results of Chang'e-5 in Beijing: The new minerals found by Chinese scientists on the moon for the first time were named "Chang'e Stone". This mineral is the sixth new mineral discovered by humans on the moon, and the mainland has become the third country in the world to discover new minerals on the moon after the United States and the former Soviet Union.
Lunar samples. Image source: CNNC Nuclear And Geological Research Institute
How was this new mineral discovered? Why is it named "Chang'e Stone"? The reporter of China News Network recently interviewed the scientific research team of the Nuclear Land Research Institute that found the "Chang'e Stone" to find out.
New minerals from the Moon were discovered from 140,000 particles
On December 17, 2020, the mainland Chang'e 5 lunar probe successfully returned to Earth with 1731 grams of lunar "native products", which is the second time that humans have collected lunar samples after more than 40 years, and has also made China the third country to successfully collect lunar samples.
In June 2021, the Chang'e-5 lunar samples were opened to the whole society for application. The Institute of Nuclear Geopolitics was one of the first 13 research institutions to obtain lunar samples, and three topics were approved, namely "Chang'e-5 Lunar Sample Fusion Nuclear Energy Nuclide (3He) Research", "Chang'e-5 Lunar Sample Uranium (Thorium) Nuclear Energy Nuclide and Isotope Research" and "Lunar Nuclear Element Uranium Nuclide Research and Significance"; The goal is to carry out autonomous basic geological research on lunar fission and fusion resources, and provide important basic data for lunar evolution and lunar resource evaluation.
Microscope photograph of a lunar sample. Image source: CNNC Nuclear And Geological Research Institute
In the course of mineralogical research on the first obtained samples of lunar soil powder, the research team of the Institute of Nuclear Geology found clues to the new mineral. At that time, it was a particle of about 10 microns, and it interacted with pyroxene, and neither experimental means nor later data processing could remove the pyroxene clean, so the ideal structural data was not obtained.
After applying for a soil sample in the second month, the research team counted 140,000 particles on the sample target and found traces of some new minerals, but only one was expected to detect the single crystal structure, and this one also cracked into three small pieces. In the end, the team used focused ion beam electron microscopy to cut out a pure single crystal particle of 10 *7 *4 microns, which is less than one-tenth the size of the average diameter of an ordinary human hair.
The researchers then transferred the particles to a single crystal diffractometer to collect diffraction data, and finally interpreted the crystal structure of the new mineral. They conducted Raman spectroscopy, crystal photometric description, physical properties calculation, etc. of the new mineral, and determined it to be a new mineral that had never been discovered through systematic and detailed mineralogical research.
Named "Chang'e Stone" in tribute to China's aerospace
This new lunar mineral is named "Chang'e Stone", its English name is Changesite-(Y), and it is composed of change (Chang'e's Hanyu Pinyin) + s + ite (English suffix, indicating minerals) + Y (special component suffix).
Found in the basalt clastics of the Chang'e-5 lunar soil, "Chang'e stone" is a new phosphate mineral belonging to the Merrillite family of meteorite sodium magnesium calcium. The ideal chemical formula is (Ca8Y) □Fe2+ (PO4)7, the crystal structure belongs to the tripartite crystal system, and the space group R3c. Particles of about 2 to 30 microns, in the form of tiny columns, associated minerals such as iron olivine, monoclinic pyroxene, ilmenite, calcium feldspar, oblique zircon, quartz, meteoric iron sulfide and glass.
The research team of the Institute of Nuclear Geology research writes the research report and submits it to the International Mineral Society's Committee on New Mineral Classification and Nomenclature. In August 2022, the International Mineralogical Society's New Mineral Classification and Nomenclature Committee unanimously approved the Chang'e Stone Research Report and issued a letter of approval.
Chinese scientists discovered the moon's new mineral "Chang'e stone" for the first time. Image source: CNNC Nuclear And Geological Research Institute
After review by 20 mineralogists from multiple countries, the new mineral Chang'e stone (Changesite-(Y)), declared by the Lunar Soil Research Team of the Institute of Nuclear Geology, was officially approved by the International Mineralogical Society(IMA) Committee on Classification and Nomenclature of New Minerals (CNMNC) on August 3, 2022, with the approval number IMA2022-023a.
According to the scientific research team of the Institute of Nuclear Geology Research, the reason why it was named "Chang'e Stone": First, to commemorate the first time that the Chang'e Project retrieved samples; Second, the pronunciation is closer to the pronunciation of Chinese Chang'e stone, which is also friendly to foreigners; Third, "S" is the first letter at the beginning of the Chinese "stone-Shi" and the English "stone-stone", "stone" is usually a general term for "mineral rock"; Fourth, the name Changesite can be divided into Change (Chang'e) and site (address), which can be understood as Chang'e's place of residence, that is, the moon, and can also be interpreted as the landing site of Chang'e 5 moon; Fifth, the name can also be understood as Change (change) and site (address), which can be extended to mean that the place of the moon is different from the previous Apollo (United States) and Luna (Russia). Naming the new mineral "Chang'e Stone" pays tribute to the scientific research team's tribute to China's aerospace and China's deep space exploration. (End)
Source: China News Network