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Moon NASA Space

NASA Is Opening a Vacuum-Sealed Sample It Took From the Moon 50 Years Ago (npr.org) 28

Posted by BeauHD from the beginning-of-a-sci-fi-horror-movie dept.
Scientists at NASA's Johnson Space Center in Houston are preparing to open the first tube that one of the astronauts on the Apollo missions hammered into the surface of the moon. As NPR reports, it's "remained tightly sealed all these years since that 1972 Apollo 17 mission -- the last time humans set foot on the moon." From the report: The unsealed tube from that mission was opened in 2019. The layers of lunar soil had been preserved, and the sample offered insight into subjects like landslides in airless places. Because the sample being opened now has been sealed, it may contain something in addition to rocks and soil: gas. The tube could contain substances known as volatiles, which evaporate at normal temperatures, such as water ice and carbon dioxide. The materials at the bottom of the tube were extremely cold at the time they were collected. The amount of these gases in the sample is expected to be very low, so scientists are using a special device called a manifold, designed by a team at Washington University in St. Louis, to extract and collect the gas.

Another tool was developed at the European Space Agency (ESA) to pierce the sample and capture the gases as they escape. Scientists there have called that tool the "Apollo can opener." The careful process of opening and capturing has begun, and so far, so good: the seal on the inner sample tube seems to be intact. Now, the piercing process is underway, with that special "can opener" ready to trap whatever gases might come out. If there are gases in the sample, scientists will be able to use modern mass spectrometry technology to identify them. (Mass spectrometry is a tool for analyzing and measuring molecules.) The gas could also be divided into tiny samples for other researchers to study.
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NASA Is Opening a Vacuum-Sealed Sample It Took From the Moon 50 Years Ago More

NASA Is Opening a Vacuum-Sealed Sample It Took From the Moon 50 Years Ago

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    • Re: (Score:2)

      by suss ( 158993 )

      You don't just get rid of a moonfart.

    • No, they likely did lose it. That's precisely how they managed to keep/find it after 50 years!

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by necro81 ( 917438 )

      Surprised NASA could keep track of something that long.

      I'm guessing you're making a joke through the use of cynicism and snark. In this case, it falls flat.

      Setting aside samples for (much) later analysis was always part of the Apollo science program. Also, given how much effort went into obtaining them in the first place, NASA has always kept very, very close track of every bit of rock, down to fractions of a gram.

      This video [youtube.com] provides some background on how NASA stores its moon rocks.

    • I’ve been in the lunar vault at JSC. Their tech was already decades out of date when I was there in 2005, but their system for tracking everything was solid. That sector as a whole can be a mess, but that particular team had their stuff together.

  • The only publicly available data on "lunar regolith composition" is for various mechanical properties simulants, not actual bulk mineral composition of lunar "soil".

    Since they have a sample, with the layers intact-- right fucking there--- it sure would be nice if they would release that compositional analysis data.

    I don't expect they will though. Apparently, the public has no need to know what minerals are actually on the moon, in what configuration-- at least as far as NASA is concerned. Mechanical simul

  • The gas could also be divided into tiny samples for other researchers to study There's no reason the sample can't be divided into millions of units. I propose selling moon gas on key chains, pendants, embedded in coins and tokens, etc. NASA could use the funds raised to return to the moon.

  • Haven't they seen all the sci-fi films where someone opens a similar container and it releases deadly alien life? ;-)

  • "scientists will be able to use modern mass spectrometry technology": I used mass spectrometry in an undergrad organic chemistry class in 1970. What is modern about this? I'm not saying no improvements might have happened, but the article (yes, I did look at the original) doesn't say why the mass spectrometer NASA is using is better than ones back then.

    • "scientists will be able to use modern mass spectrometry technology": I used mass spectrometry in an undergrad organic chemistry class in 1970. What is modern about this? I'm not saying no improvements might have happened, but the article (yes, I did look at the original) doesn't say why the mass spectrometer NASA is using is better than ones back then.

      The new one uses blockchain.

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