First moon rocks on Earth since 1976 arrive safely in UK
The first sample of moon dust to arrive on Earth in nearly 50 years has landed safely in Milton Keynes, on loan from China.
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The moon rocks, the first of its kind to arrive on Earth since the 1976 Soviet Luna mission, are described as rarer than gold.
Being held in a high-security facility in Milton Keynes, the rocks are being studied by scientists.
The samples, collected by China’s Chang’e 5 mission in 2020, come from the extinct Mons Rümker volcano in the Oceanus Procellarum region.
A robotic arm drilled into the moon’s soil to retrieve the 2 kg of samples.
In an international panel of seven scientists chosen to study the moon dust, just one is from the UK.
The Open University’s professor of planetary science and exploration Mahesh Anand travelled to Beijing to pick up the samples.
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The panel hopes the rocks, having been ground into dust and zapped with lasers, will help answer questions about the moon’s creation and ecosystem.
These samples could also help scientists understand more about the building block elements of early Earth that supported the development of life.
Professor Anand has also said that the samples are “absolutely crucial” for plans to get humans living on the moon.
The current leading theory about the moon’s creation is that a mars-sized planet smashed into Earth, and the moon formed in orbit from collision debris.