China Plans Three Moon Missions After Discovering New Lunar Mineral
upstart writes:
China Plans Three Moon Missions After Discovering New Lunar Mineral:
China is aiming to launch three unmanned missions to the moon after discovering a new lunar mineral that could be an energy source in the future.
The space race between China and the US is accelerating after Beijing's National Space Administration got the go-ahead to launch three orbiters to the moon over the next 10 years, it announced on Saturday. The news was first reported by Bloomberg.
It comes a day after China became the third country to discover a new lunar mineral, which it called Changesite-(Y), according to Chinese state-controlled newspaper the Global Times.
China's Chang'e-5 mission retrieved samples from the moon in 2020 and it has been described by Global Times as a "phosphate mineral in columnar crystal" found in lunar rock particles. The mineral contains helium-3, which could be a future source of energy.
The discovery may put more pressure on the US to ramp up its efforts after its Artemis I moon mission was postponed for a second time.
Moon mining could be the next source of tension between the countries as NASA is also probing the moon's south pole where China plans to build a research station in conjunction with Russia.
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