China’s Chang’e-5 mission discovered a new mineral on the moon’s surface. This is with reference to the China National Space Administration and the State Atomic Energy Administration of the PRC.
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The new mineral, dubbed “Chang’e Stone”, was found in samples brought from the Moon to Earth. In China, they claim that it has become the sixth new mineral found on a natural satellite of the Earth. It is noted that a single-crystal particle about 10 microns in size was isolated from lunar samples, the structure of which was deciphered by Chinese specialists.
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Scientists have announced a new moon mineral ahead of the traditional Chinese Mid-Autumn Festival (Zhongqiujie). This holiday is celebrated on the 15th day of the eighth month of the lunar calendar – September 10 this year. Zhongqiujie is considered a family holiday in China, when every Chinese must visit his native places, see relatives in order to taste moon cakes with them and admire the full moon.
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In February, it became known that the Chinese spacecraft Chang’e-5 entered a far retrograde lunar orbit earlier than the Orion spacecraft of the American Artemis 1 mission could have ended up there.
