Professor Mahesh Anand at The Open University is the only scientist in the United Kingdom -- and one of just seven researchers worldwide -- to have received samples of the rare lunar material from China's Chang'e 5 mission.
In 2020, China's Chang'e-5 mission retrieved samples from the Moon weighing about 1,731 grams, which were the first lunar samples in the world in nearly 50 years.
The British scientist was allocated three samples, each weighing 20 milligrams, carefully selected from different locations on the lunar surface to address specific scientific questions.
This is also the first time that China has shared its lunar samples with international researchers, nearly five years after the mission was completed. Seven institutions across six countries -- the UK, France, Germany, Japan, Pakistan, and the U.S. -- have been granted access.
In an interview with China Global Television Network (CGTN), Professor Anand said his team will analyze the Moon dust obtained by China in a state-of-the-art lab with sophisticated equipment. Chief among them is the oxygen isotope lab, where oxygen from the samples is extracted and compared with existing data to help determine the Moon's origin.
Anand has long worked with samples from the Apollo missions and lunar meteorites, which are around three billion years old. The Chang'e 5 samples -- estimated to be two billion years old -- offer a crucial missing piece.
"Chang'e 5 collected samples from an area of the Moon that has never been visited before. We have samples from any area of the Moon where volcanic activity happened as recently as only two billion years ago," he said.
"You certainly have samples that actually erupted at the surface of the Moon only two billion years ago. So these samples give us the opportunity to actually not only interrogate and investigate what they might be telling us about the inside of the Moon because essentially they are derived from the interior of the Moon," he explained.
Anand's previous work with Apollo-era samples helped overturn the longstanding belief in a 'dry Moon' by discovering evidence of water. The Chang'e 5 samples are now offering new complexity to that theory.
"What we found was the water amount in the Moon was not as much as it was indicated from the Apollo samples. It was a bit different. And now we have Chang'e 6 samples that have been brought from the far side [of the Moon] and the story is becoming even more complicated," he said.
When asked if he hopes to apply for access to samples from China's Chang'e 6 mission, which returned in 2024, Anand was enthusiastic.
That mission retrieved rock from the Moon's far side, specifically from the South Pole-Aitken basin.
"It formed just over 4 billion years ago and it is thought that the impact was so big and so impactful that it almost brought the interior, including mantle of the moon very close to the surface," he said.
"So it may be that Chang'e 6 samples actually contain fragments of material that represent that lunar mantle. So it could be a painstaking exercise or it could be a serendipitous discovery. So it could actually help advance the scientific understanding of planetary differentiation, planet formation, you know, in leaps and bounds, and I cannot wait for that to come," he added.
British scientist receives China's Moon samples, sees potential for future research
