Chinese experts have discovered and conducted systematic research on diverse glass materials found in the lunar soil brought back by the Chang'e-5 mission, according to the Chinese Academy of Sciences' Institute of Physics.
Researchers at the institute comprehensively analyzed the morphology, composition and microstructure of glass substances found in powder samples obtained from the lunar regolith using scanning and transmission electron microscopes.
They discovered diverse glass materials with different physical origins -- liquid quenching, vapor deposition and irradiation damage -- and constructed a catalogue based on that information.
The researchers also found naturally formed glass fibers on the lunar surface for the first time, indicating there is a possibility that the lunar soil can be used to process and produce glass-building materials.
The study has been published in the National Science Review journal.
The Chang'e-5 probe returned to Earth on Dec. 17, 2020, having retrieved a total of 1,731 grams of lunar samples, mainly rocks and soil from the moon's surface. (Xinhua)
China plans to launch the Chang'e-5 lunar probe at the end of November this year, from the Wenchang Space Launch Center in southern China's Hainan Province, aboard the heavy-lift carrier rocket Long March-5. The mission will be China's first automated moon surface sampling, first moon take-off, first unmanned docking in a lunar orbit about 380,000 km from earth, and first return flight in a speed close to second cosmic velocity, according to the China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation (CASC).
China plans to launch the Chang'e-5 lunar probe next year, which is expected to bring lunar samples back to the Earth. The Chang'e-5 lunar probe will be very complex, containing four parts: an orbiter, a returner, an ascender and a lander. The lander will put moon samples in a vessel in the ascender after the Moon landing. Then the ascender will take off from the Moon to dock with the orbiter and the returner orbiting the Moon, and transfer the samples to the returner.
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