China has reportedly discovered a new lunar mineral in samples recovered from the Moon in 2020.
The official Xinhua news agency reports that the mineral, Changesite-(Y), was jointly disclosed by the China National Space Administration and the China Atomic Energy Authority on September 9 after it was discovered by a subsidiary of the China National Nuclear Corporation (CNNC).
South China Morning Post reports that researchers at the Beijing Research Institute of Uranium Geology “isolated a single crystalline particle from the material of more than 140,000 lunar particles using high-tech processes, including X-ray diffraction,” according to a CNNC official.
Xinhua describes Changesite-(Y) as “a kind of colorless transparent columnar crystal” that was “discovered from an analysis of lunar basalt particles” collected by the Chang’e-5 mission in 2020. It has been reported which has been recognized as a new mineral. by the International Mineralogical Association.
The discovery of Changesite-(Y) makes China the third country, after the US and Russia, to find a new mineral on the Moon. SCMP reports that it is the sixth lunar mineral to be discovered.