Lunar samples open for study by global scientists
China’s space agency has invited 10 scientists from the US, Europe and Asia to pitch their plans in person to study lunar samples brought back to Earth by its Chang’e 5 moon mission.
The pitches will be heard at a review meeting at the China University of Geosciences’ Nanwangshan campus in Wuhan on April 26, with applicants encouraged to attend the meeting in person, according to the China National Space Administration (CNSA).
Each applicant would have 15 minutes to make a presentation and take questions from the review committee, CNSA said on Tuesday, adding online participation was also acceptable.
Ryan Zeigler, a lunar geochemist and sample curator for Nasa’s Apollo missions at the Johnson Space Centre in Houston, Texas, will be the second person to present a submission, according to the meeting agenda.
If Zeigler’s pitch is accepted, it would be a rare example of highlevel US-China space cooperation. Nasa-funded scientists have been forbidden to collaborate with China under a US law known as the Wolf Amendment, unless approved by Congress.
China’s Chang’e 5 spacecraft touched down on the moon in 2020 in a region known as the Ocean of Storms and sent back 1.73kg of lunar material to Earth.
The samples distributed to Chinese researchers were very different and much younger compared to the material collected by US Apollo missions five decades earlier.
In November, the CNSA began accepting applications from scientists outside China to study the Chang’e 5 samples. Nasa urged its researchers to apply in spite of the Wolf Amendment.
“The Chang’e 5 samples originate from regions of the moon not yet sampled by Nasa and are expected to provide valuable new scientific insight on the geological history of the moon,” Nasa wrote in an internal email.
“Applying for samples will ensure United States researchers have the same research opportunities as scientists around the world,” it said, adding it had “certified its intention to Congress”.
Other US applicants to appear at the review include planetary scientists Stephen Parman from Brown University, Timothy Glotch from Stony Brook University, Stephen Sutton from the University of Chicago, and Michelle Thompson from Purdue University.
All of them receive research grants from Nasa, and some chair Nasa-funded projects worth millions of dollars. Scientists from Britain’s The Open University, the University of Cologne, the Paris Institute of Planetary Physics, the Pakistan Space & Upper Atmosphere Research Commission, and Osaka University in Japan will also make presentations.
Earlier this month, Nasa announced global scientists could apply to borrow the asteroid samples collected by its OSIRIS-REx asteroid mission last September.
The Post has contacted Nasa headquarters in Washington to confirm if applications from China would be considered.
It is not clear if Nasa could obtain congressional approval to allow exchanges of samples for scientific research purposes.
In last year’s email, Nasa wrote approval for the Chang’e 5 application was an exceptional case. “This allowance applies specifically to Chang’e 5 mission samples; the normal prohibition on bilateral activity … on Nasafunded projects remains in place.”