The new mineral, named Changesite-(Y), looks crystal clear like a diamond, has been certified by International Mineralogical Association. /CGTN
Fri 09 September 2022:
China declared on Friday that it had identified a new mineral on the moon, becoming only the third country in the world to do so.
The new mineral, confirmed by the International Mineralogical Association’s Commission on New Minerals, Nomenclature, and Classification, was recovered from the moon by the Chang’e-5 space mission in 2020, weighing approximately 1,731 grams, according to Dong Baotong, vice chairman of China Atomic Energy Authority.
The Chinese space mission collected such lunar samples for the first time in four decades two years ago.
According to Dong, the new mineral has been dubbed Changesite-(Y).
It added that Changesite-(Y) is a phosphate mineral in columnar crystal found in lunar basalt particles.
Changesite-(Y) is the sixth mineral discovered on the moon.
Earlier, the U.S. and the former Soviet Union had announced discoveries of new minerals on the moon’s surface.
“This is a major scientific achievement China has made in the field of space science, and it is also a powerful exploration of cross-industry and cross-professional cooperation between nuclear and aerospace,” said Dong.
Experts at the Beijing Research Institute of Uranium Geology examined the new mineral, separating a single crystal particle with a radius of roughly 10 microns from 140,000 lunar sample particles using high-tech methods such as X-ray diffraction and interpreting its crystal structure.
SOURCE: INDEPENDENT PRESS AND NEWS AGENCIES
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