Chinese Scientists First Discovered A New Mineral On The Moon And Named It Chang'e Stone

On September 9, the eve of the traditional Chinese festival Mid-Autumn Festival, the National Space Administration and the National Atomic Energy Agency jointly released the latest scientific achievements of Chang'e 5 in Beijing: the new mineral discovered by Chinese scientists on the moon for the first time was named "Chang'e Stone". This is a major scientific achievement my country has made in the field of space science, and it is also a successful exploration of cross-industry and cross-professional cooperation between nuclear and aerospace.

"Chang'e stone" is a phosphate mineral in the form of columnar crystals found in lunar basalt grains. The innovative team of CNNC Beijing Institute of Geology, through a series of high-tech means such as X-ray diffraction, isolated a single crystal particle with a particle size of about 10 microns from 140,000 lunar sample particles, and successfully deciphered it. its crystal structure. Confirmed as a new mineral by voting by the International Mineralogical Society (IMA) New Mineral Classification and Nomenclature Committee (CNMNC). This mineral is the sixth new mineral discovered by humans on the moon, and my country has become the third country in the world to discover new minerals on the moon.