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Chinese, French scientists to work together on lunar rock samples
- It will include joint programmes and exchanges between the Chinese Academy of Sciences and French space and science agencies
- The soil and rocks brought back from the moon by the Chang’e 5 in December are the first collected in more than four decades
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Scientists from China and France will carry out research on soil and rocks a Chinese spacecraft brought back from the moon last year, the latest joint effort to analyse the samples.
They are the first lunar samples collected in more than four decades and the mission in December was a major step in China’s ambitious space programme, when it became just the third country to do this after the United States and the Soviet Union.
Zhou Qi, deputy head of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), on Tuesday said China and France would work together on the lunar samples based on their “long-term friendly cooperation” in the space field.
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It will include joint programmes and exchanges between the CAS and the French space agency, the Centre National d’Etudes Spatiales, as well as its Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique.
But Zhou did not say whether lunar samples would be given to the French scientists.
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As of July, the China National Space Administration (CNSA) said it had distributed about 1 per cent of the samples collected to 13 Chinese research institutions, including the CAS, for analysis.
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