China announces discovery of two new lunar minerals
China on Friday announced that it had discovered two new lunar minerals.
The minerals were discovered from lunar samples brought back by the Chang'e-5 mission, according to the China National Space Administration (CNSA), News.Az reports, citing foreign media.
The Chang’e-5 mission returned to Earth in December 2020, bringing home about 1,731 grams of lunar samples from Oceanus Procellarum—China’s first lunar samples—and also marking the first lunar samples brought to Earth in 44 years.
The CNSA identified the minerals as magnesiochangesite-(Y) and changesite-(Ce), bringing the total number of minerals discovered from the Moon to eight globally.
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Earlier, Chinese scientists had discovered their first lunar mineral, changesite-(Y), in 2022.
During the opening ceremony of the 2026 Space Day of China in Chengdu, capital of southwestern China’s Sichuan Province, the CNSA said the minerals were approved by the Commission on New Minerals, Nomenclature and Classification of the International Mineralogical Association.
In 2019, China conducted a historic first landing on the far side of the Moon with the Chang'e-4 probe.
By Nijat Babayev
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