BEIJING: The China National Space Administration distributed the first batch of lunar samples obtained by the Chang’e 5 robotic mission to scientists on Monday.
The samples, weighing about 17.5 grams, were divided into 21 lots and handed over at a ceremony at the National Astronomical Observatories in Beijing to scientists from 13 domestic research organizations working on 31 scientific projects.
All of the distributed samples are from the dust and rock fragments retrieved from the lunar surface by the Chang’e 5 lander. Subsurface samples brought back by the historic 23-day expedition are still being processed and analyzed at the National Astronomical Observatories, according to Li Chunlai, deputy chief planner of China’s lunar exploration program.
The National Space Administration published the Regulations on the Management of Lunar Samples in January. In April, it established a commission for the distribution and use of the samples, and then started to accept applications for the first batch of 44 processed samples. A total of 37 scientists from 23 research bodies associated with the ministries of Education, Industry and Information Technology, and Natural Resources, the Chinese Academy of Sciences and the China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation, submitted 85 applications, said Pei Zhaoyu, deputy director of the administration’s Lunar Exploration and Space Program Center and spokesman for the Chang’e 5 mission.
–The Daily Mail-CGTN
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