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China Shares Moon Rocks with International Scientists
In a gesture of scientific goodwill, China is allowing researchers from six countries, including the United States, to study lunar samples brought back by the Chang’e-5 mission in 2020. Chinese space official Shan Zhongde emphasized that the moon rocks are “a shared treasure for all humanity.” This sharing contrasts with current US policy, which restricts NASA collaboration with China.
Among the institutions granted access to the samples are Brown University and the State University of New York at Stony Brook in the US, Osaka University in Japan, the Paris Institute of Planetary Physics, the University of Cologne in Germany, the British Open University, and Pakistan’s Space and Upper Atmosphere Research Commission. Shan expressed hope that the international research will lead to new scientific discoveries that benefit all humankind.
The 2020 Chang’e-5 mission made China the third nation, after the United States and the former Soviet Union, to successfully collect lunar samples. The rocks retrieved by Chang’e-5 are believed to be significantly younger than those collected by the US Apollo missions, potentially offering insights into a different period of lunar history. China also retrieved lunar samples with its Chang’e-6 mission last year, targeting some of the oldest rocks on the moon’s south pole.