China Find Minerals In The Moon Smaller Than Human Hair, But Capable Of Nuclear Fusion

Chinese scientists managed to find a new moon mineral in the form of a crystal (Doc. TWITTER/@PDHINA)

JAKARTA - Chinese scientists managed to find a new moon mineral in the form of a crystal, hiding in samples taken from the Moon in 2020.

China's Chang'e-5 mission in 2020 returned the first lunar sample since the end of the Apollo program in 1976, and that's why scientists discovered a new mineral in the payload.

More interestingly, the tiny crystallized minerals could also be the key to generating energy through nuclear fusion.

It is Changesite–(Y), named after the Chinese mythological moon goddess, Chang'e. In the form of phosphate minerals and columnar crystals. It was found in lunar basalt particles that are being examined in a laboratory in China.

The discovery was made by scientists at the Beijing Research Institute of Uranium Geology who discovered the single crystal Changesite–(Y) using X-ray diffraction while studying particles collected on the Moon.

The transparent crystal has a diameter smaller than a human hair and is believed to have formed about 1.2 billion years ago when the area explored by Chang'e-5 was still volcanically active.

China's Atomic Energy Authority has confirmed the presence of helium-3 in the crystal. This isotope of helium is rarely found on Earth, but scientists (and science fiction writers) have long speculated that helium could be present in significant amounts on the Moon.

Compared to other forms of the element, helium-3 produces fewer radioactive byproducts as it goes through fusion. That makes it attractive as a fuel source for fusion power plants.

The technology to sustain fusion on Earth is still elusive, but helium-3 could help get there.

Like the United States (US) and other space explorers, China has expressed interest in mining resources on the Moon.

And if Changesite—(Y) turns out to be plentiful enough on the Moon, it's claimed the mineral could be mined as a source of helium-3 and sent back to Earth.