Chinese space officials said Thursday they welcomed scientists from around the world to apply to research the moon rock samples the Chang’e 6 probe brought to Earth on a historic mission, but noted there were limits to that collaboration, especially…
BANGKOK — Chinese space officials said Thursday they welcome scientists from around the world to sign up to study the moon rock samples brought back to Earth by the Chang’e 6 probe in a historic mission. However, they noted that there are limitations to that cooperation, especially with the United States.
Officials said at a televised news conference in Beijing intended to introduce the mission’s achievements that any cooperation with the US would be contingent on the repeal of a US law that bans direct bilateral cooperation with NASA.
“The source of the obstacle in the US-China aerospace cooperation still lies in the Wolf Amendment,” said Bian Zhigang, vice chairman of the China National Space Administration. “If the US really hopes to have regular aerospace cooperation, I believe it should take appropriate measures to remove the obstacle.”
The Wolf Amendment, passed in 2011, prohibits direct bilateral cooperation between the US and China, except in cases where the FBI can certify that there would be no national security risks if information were shared with the Chinese party during the work.
Still, China could collaborate with scientists from other countries. It collaborated with the European Space Agency, France, Italy and Pakistan in the Chang’e 6 mission.
“China welcomes scientists from all countries to apply according to the procedures and share in the benefits,” said Liu Yunfeng, director of the International Cooperation Office of the China National Space Administration.
Meanwhile, little information was released about the global scoop achieved on Tuesday. Chinese officials declined to reveal how many samples they had actually collected or any preliminary findings.
“I’m afraid this matter won’t be revealed until tomorrow, so I hope everyone can wait patiently for another day,” Chang’e 6 chief designer Hu Hao said at the press conference.
On Monday, Chinese scientists said they expect the returned samples to contain 2.5 million-year-old volcanic rocks and other material that scientists hope will answer questions about geographic differences on the two sides of the moon. The mission aimed to collect two kilos of material.
The near side of the moon is what you see from Earth, and the far side looks out into space. The far side also has mountains and impact craters and is much more difficult to reach.
The probe’s journey to the far side of the moon was historic because it was the first time a probe had successfully ascended and brought back samples directly from the far side. Previous samples thought to have come from the far side of the moon came from meteorites found on Earth.
The probe had landed in the moon’s South Pole-Aitken Basin, an impact crater that formed more than 4 billion years ago. The samples scientists expect will likely come from different layers of the basin, which will bear traces of the different geological events in the long chronology, such as when the moon was younger and had an active interior that could produce volcanic rocks.
Officials have announced some future plans, with a Chang’e 7 probe planned to explore resources at the moon’s south pole. Further out, they have Tianwen-3 planned for around 2030 to carry out a Mars sample return mission and a Tianwen-4 Jupiter exploration mission.