If there were still people who rejoiced when the US Congress passed the "Wolf Amendment" in 2011, they believed that the US advanced space technology, which was in a superior position, would thus have a secure access control and would not flow to China, which was in a lower position. Today, then, it seems that this access control has become a stumbling block to the United States itself. It's really hard to get around it for NASA.
In 2013, two years after the Wolf Amendment was passed, China's Chang'e-3 achieved a soft landing on the lunar surface, in 2018, Chang'e-4 landed directly on the south pole on the back of the moon, in December 2020, Chang'e-5 brought back 1,731 grams of lunar soil and rock samples directly from the moon, and then China announced that research institutions around the world can apply for lunar soil samples for scientific research, and the application portal will be open from November 6, 2023, until December 22, 2023. It wasn't until Nov. 29 that NASA finally notified its funded researchers that they were allowed to submit sample applications to China.
(The lunar "specialty" lunar soil brought back by Chang'e-5 was exhibited at the National Museum earlier)
NASA's Tender and Review Integrated Evaluation System said in a statement that NASA had made clear its views to Congress, asking for congressional approval to allow its funded researchers to apply for lunar soil samples from China's Chang'e-5. The statement emphasized that the samples obtained by Chang'e-5, from areas not sampled by NASA, can provide valuable new information about the geological history of the moon, which can improve researchers' understanding of the Earth-Moon system, and is expected to help NASA in the future lunar exploration program. Applying for a sample from China ensures that U.S. researchers have the same research opportunities as other scientists around the world.
The statement did not forget the effect of the Wolf amendment, emphasizing that this permission is only for the Chang'e-5 mission sample, and did not forget to add that the ban on bilateral cooperation between NASA-funded projects and the People's Republic of China is still in effect, and there is a long way to go in lunar exploration and development.
(Panorama of the lunar surface taken by Chang'e-5)
Faced with China's generous opening of lunar soil samples to the international community, NASA was unwilling to get them. Even the explanations given by American analysts as to how to obtain exemptions from the Wolf Amendment are vague.
Smith, editor of space policy online .com in the United States, believes that the Wolf Amendment is not a complete ban on cooperation, but if it needs to cooperate, NASA must first obtain congressional permission and meet a series of conditions. Regardless, U.S. lunar researchers are happy with the decision.
Cliff Neal, a lunar expert at the University of Notre Dame of Indiana, said that allowing U.S. scientists to study these unique lunar samples is good news, that this is the first time we have been allowed to apply for real samples, and I hope this collaboration will lead to the exchange of lunar samples between China and the United States. During the Cold War, the United States and the Soviet Union had many such exchanges, and the exchange of samples eased the relationship between the United States and the Soviet Union through scientific diplomacy, and the cooperation between China and the United States could be a good start.
(Chang'e No. 5)
(Moon Sample)
Gadis, director of the Lunar and Planetary Research Society of the American Society for Space Research, spoke highly of the value of China's Chang'e-5 lunar soil samples. The lunar soil samples brought back by Chang'e-5 raise new questions about the thermal and magnetic changes of the moon. In particular, why the interior of the moon has been able to retain enough heat for so long for volcanic activity to continue.
James Hyde, a veteran lunar scientist at Brown University who worked on the Apollo moon landings, believes that samples taken by China's Chang'e-5 from the stormy ocean northwest of the near lunar end provide an important missing piece of the puzzle about the moon's mystery. There is the youngest lunar lava flow that has never been sampled, and Chinese researchers have already done important groundwork for the next stage of analysis. It is hoped that this cooperation will pave the way for the exchange of samples for international space exploration. Samples from the Moon, Mars, asteroids, and even comets can be exchanged by the United States, China, and other institutions. The solar system is a large place that can be very beneficial to planetary science through non-duplicative complementary exploration operations and the sharing of samples and other results.
(Microscopic view of a lunar sample)
(Chang'e-5 successfully returned to Earth with 1,731 grams of lunar soil samples, creating a new monument in China's aerospace history)
Narrow supporters of the Wolf Amendment believe that the United States has always been ahead of China in space science and technology across the board. They did not foresee the speed of progress in China's aerospace science and technology, nor did they foresee the importance of complementary exploration and research.
Next year, China's Chang'e-6 will be launched, this time with a five-star red flag, and the lander will land in the Aitken Basin at the South Pole on the far side of the moon and return samples. If all goes well, Chang'e-6 will retrieve 1-2 kilograms of samples, making it the first human probe to return home from a sample from the far side of the moon.
(Chang'e-6 has been assembled)
(The samples retrieved by China are about 1 billion years old, which is of great scientific value for depicting the deep process and evolutionary history of the moon from ancient to young.)
At that time, will NASA have to remind Congress again for a special approval? And then there will be Chang'e-7 and Chang'e-8.