Latest news with #Luna24
Express Tribune
09-05-2025
- Science
- Express Tribune
China sends moon dust 'rarer than gold' to UK
Listen to article The UK has received its first sample of Moon rock in nearly 50 years, after China loaned a vial of lunar dust to Professor Mahesh Anand's lab in Milton Keynes. The 60mg sample, locked inside a safe in a high-security facility, was collected by China's Chang'e 5 mission in 2020. It is the first lunar material to reach Earth since the Soviet Luna 24 mission in 1976. 'This is more precious than gold dust,' said Prof Anand, who is the only UK scientist granted access to the material. The grains will be analysed using lasers and high-heat techniques to probe how the Moon formed and to unlock secrets of the early Earth. 'This is a great honour and a huge privilege,' said Prof Anand. 'Nobody in the world had access to China's samples.' The UK joins a select group of seven international researchers chosen to study the rare material, in a move signalling growing scientific collaboration. The Chinese mission drilled 2kg of lunar soil from Mons Rümker, a volcanic plateau, returning it in a capsule that landed in Inner Mongolia. At the Open University's facility, extreme precautions are being taken to avoid contamination. Technicians wear gowns, gloves and hoods; sticky mats clean their shoes. Earthly particles could destroy the integrity of the results. 'This is high stakes,' said lab technician Kay Knight, who will be the first to work directly on the grains. The analysis process involves vaporising the dust at 1,400°C and scanning it for carbon, nitrogen and noble gases. Other tests will determine its oxygen content using lasers. The team has one year to complete the research, which may destroy the tiny sample in the process. But Prof Anand hopes this is just the beginning. 'I hope that this is the start of long-term collaboration between China and international scientists,' he said. In 2024, China's Chang'e 6 mission brought back the first samples from the far side of the Moon, an area of growing interest for future research.
Yahoo
07-02-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Putin axes Yuri Borisov, head of Russia's space agency
When you buy through links on our articles, Future and its syndication partners may earn a commission. Russia has a new space chief. Russian President Vladimir Putin has dismissed Yuri Borisov after 2.5 years in charge of the nation's space agency Roscosmos, The Moscow Times reported today (Feb. 6). His replacement is 39-year-old Dmitry Bakanov, who most recently served as Russia's deputy transport minister and led the state-backed Gonets satellite communications system from 2011 to 2019. Borisov, 68, took Roscosmos' reins from the blustery Dmitry Rogozin in July 2022, five months after Russia invaded Ukraine. Many of Russia's former space partners cut or reduced their ties with the nation in the wake of that ongoing invasion, complicating Russia's launch business and exploration plans. Related: Roscosmos: Russia's space agency Borisov's relatively brief tenure was marked by turbulence and disappointment, including the August 2023 failure of Luna 25, the first moon mission in modern Russian history. (The most recent moon effort had been Luna 24, launched by the Soviet Union in 1976.) Roscosmos "also faced corruption scandals, the loss of satellites and other spacecraft, as well as a lack of innovation" under Borisov, according to The Moscow Times, which is an independent newspaper based in Amsterdam. Still, Russian officials framed Borisov's ouster as part of a "planned rotation." "The corporation needs dynamic development, which is why these personnel changes are taking place," Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters, according to The Moscow Times, which also provided the English translation. RELATED STORIES: — Russia dismisses space agency chief in wake of international controversies — NASA condemns Russia's use of space station for propaganda — Is it time for a new Outer Space Treaty? Reports of Russian nuclear space weapon raise questions Roscosmos was not Borisov's first government gig. He was in the Soviet-Russian army for 20 years, for example, and later served as Deputy Minister of Defence as well as Deputy Prime Minister for Defence and Space Industry.
