Samples of rock and dust from the Moon have arrived in the UK, where they will be studied by scientists seeking to learn more about the Moon's history.
BBC News has reported that the lunar samples – the first returned to Earth in five decades – have been secured at a facility in Milton Keynes, ready for analysis.
The samples were gathered by a Chinese space mission, Chang’e 5, which returned them in December 2020.
Professor Mahesh Anand of the Open University is the first UK scientist to receive samples from the mission.
He told the BBC the Moon samples are "more precious than gold dust."
"Nobody in the world had access to China's samples, so this is a great honour and a huge privilege," Professor Anand told BBC News.
Uncovering the Moon's history
The prevailing theory of how our Moon formed is that a Mars-sized body, named Theia, collided with the early Earth.
Professor Anand and his team have been given the pristine samples from the Moon to test this theory by analysing lunar rocks and dust under laboratory conditions.
Anand applied to receive and study the Chang’e 5 samples in Dec 2023, and is one of just seven scientists around the world selected to receive them.
It's the first time lunar samples returned by a Chinese space mission have been allocated to scientists around the world.
The Chang’e-5 samples will be studied in the Open University's laboratories at its Milton Keynes campus by Professor Anand and his team.
They've been loaned to the Open University for a year, and the science team is planning on studying them to determine what chemicals are in the samples, such as carbon, nitrogen, oxygen and noble gases.
It's hoped the analysis will help scientists learn more about the origin of Earth's Moon, but also about the chemical history of the Earth-Moon system.
