China Reports Discovery of Identified Minerals in Lunar Samples

(MENAFN) China has announced the identification of two previously unknown minerals found in lunar material collected during its Chang’e-5 mission, according to state media reports.

The discoveries were made from samples retrieved by the Chang’e-5 spacecraft, which returned to Earth in December 2020 carrying approximately 1,731 grams of material from the Moon’s Oceanus Procellarum region. This mission marked China’s first successful return of lunar samples and the first such recovery globally in over four decades.

Officials from China’s space agency stated that the newly identified minerals have been named magnesiochangesite-(Y) and changesite-(Ce). With these additions, the total number of minerals confirmed from lunar samples worldwide now stands at eight.

Earlier findings from the same program had already included the identification of changesite-(Y), first reported in 2022.

The approval of the new mineral classifications was carried out under the International Mineralogical Association’s Commission on New Minerals, Nomenclature and Classification, according to the announcement made during a space-related event in Chengdu, in southwestern China.

China’s lunar exploration program has expanded steadily in recent years, including the landmark Chang’e-4 mission in 2019, which achieved the first-ever soft landing on the far side of the Moon.

The latest findings add to ongoing scientific analysis of lunar geology and further contribute to the global catalog of minerals identified from extraterrestrial samples.

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