Page 28 - ARUBA TODAY

A28 SCIENCE
Thursday 27 June 2019

NASA opening moon rock samples sealed since Apollo missions

By MARCIA DUNN the whole solar system,” he
AP Aerospace Writer said.
HOUSTON (AP) — Inside a Andrea Mosie, who’s
locked vault at Johnson worked with the Apollo
Space Center is treasure moon rocks for 44 years and
few have seen and fewer was a high school intern at
have touched. Johnson Space Center in
The restricted lab is home July 1969, remembers the
to hundreds of pounds of Polaroid photos and hand-
moon rocks collected by written notes once accom-
Apollo astronauts close to panying each sample. She
a half-century ago. sometimes gets emotional
And for the first time in de- when talking to children
cades, NASA is about to about the moonshots and
open some of the pristine does her best to dispel any
samples and let geologists notion that the rocks aren’t
take a crack at them with from the moon and the
21st-century technology. lunar landings never hap-
What better way to mark pened.
this summer’s 50th anniver- “The samples are right here
sary of humanity’s first foot- and they’re still in a pristine
steps on the moon than by state,” she assures young
sharing a bit of the lunar skeptics.
loot. Most of the samples to be
“It’s sort of a coincidence doled out over the next
that we’re opening them year were collected in 1972
in the year of the anniver- during Apollo 17, the final
sary,” explained NASA’s moonshot and the only one
Apollo sample curator to include a geologist, Har-
Ryan Zeigler, covered Ryan Zeigler, Apollo sample curator, left, stands next to a nitrogen-filled case displaying various rison Schmitt. He occasion-
head to toe in a white pro- lunar samples collected during Apollo missions 15, 16 and 17, inside the lunar lab at the NASA ally visits the lunar sample
tective suit with matching Johnson Space Center Monday, June 17, 2019, in Houston. lab and plans to help open
fabric boots, gloves and Associated Press the fresh specimens.
hat. tive proximity to home ment and pretend lunar plays and goodwill gifts to The nine U.S. research
“But certainly the anniver- — 240,000 miles (386,000 dirt. all countries and U.S. states teams selected by NASA
sary increased the aware- kilometers) or two to three Compared with Apollo-era in 1969 — is kept mostly will receive varying
ness and the fact that days away. tech, today’s science in- here at room temperature. amounts.
we’re going back to the Zeigler’s job is to preserve struments are much more Armstrong was the primary “Everything from the weight
moon.” what the 12 moonwalkers sensitive, Zeigler noted. rock collector and photog- of a paperclip, down to
With the golden anniver- brought back from 1969 “We can do more with a rapher. basically so little mass you
sary of Neil Armstrong and through 1972 — lunar sam- milligram than we could do Aldrin gathered two core can barely measure it,” Zei-
Buzz Aldrin’s feat fast ap- ples totaling 842 pounds with a gram back then. So samples just beneath the gler said.
proaching — their lunar (382 kilograms) — and en- it was really good planning surface during the 2 1/2- Especially tricky will be ex-
module Eagle landed July sure scientists get the best on their part to wait,” he hour moonwalk. All five tracting the gases that
20, 1969, on the Sea of possible samples for study. said. subsequent Apollo moon were trapped in the vac-
Tranquility — the moon is Some of the soil and bits of The lunar sample lab has landings had longer stays. uum-sealed sample tubes.
red-hot again. rock were vacuum-packed two side-by-side vaults: one The last three — Apollo 15, The lab hasn’t opened one
After decades of flip-flop- on the moon — and never for rocks still in straight-from- 16 and 17 — had rovers since the 1970s.
ping between the moon exposed to Earth’s atmo- the-moon condition and that significantly upped the “If you goof that part up,
and Mars as the next big sphere — or frozen or stored a smaller vault for samples sample collection and cov- the gas is gone. You only
astronaut destination, in gaseous helium following previously loaned out for erage area. get one shot,” Zeigler said.
NASA aims to put astro- splashdown and then left study. About 70 percent “Fifty years later, we’re The lab’s collection is divid-
nauts on the lunar surface untouched. The lab’s staff of the original haul is in the still learning new things ed by mission, with each lu-
again by 2024 at the White is now trying to figure out pristine sample vault, which ... incredible,” said the nar landing getting its own
House’s direction. how best to remove the has two combinations and lab’s Charis Krysher, hold- cabinet with built-in gloves
President Donald Trump samples from their tubes takes two people to un- ing a clear acrylic marble and stacks of stainless steel
prefers talking up Mars. and other containers with- lock. About 15 percent is embedded with chips of bins filled with pieces of the
But the consensus is that out contaminating or spoil- in safekeeping at White Apollo 11 moon rock in her moon. Apollo 16 and 17,
the moon is a crucial prov- ing anything. They’re prac- Sands in New Mexico. The gloved hand. responsible for half the lu-
ing ground given its rela- ticing with mock-up equip- rest is used for research or By studying the Apollo nar haul, get two cabinets
display. moon rocks, Zeigler said, apiece.
Of the six manned moon scientists have determined The total Apollo inven-
landings, Apollo 11 yielded the ages of the surfaces of tory now exceeds 100,000
the fewest lunar samples: Mars and Mercury, and es- samples; some of the origi-
48 pounds or 22 kilograms. tablished that Jupiter and nal 2,200 were broken into
It was the first landing by the solar system’s other big smaller pieces for study.
astronauts and NASA want- outer planets likely formed Sample processor Jeremy
ed to minimize their on-the- closer to the sun and later Kent is hopeful that “we
moon time and risk. What’s migrated outward. will get some more samples
left from this mission — “So sample return from here in the lab to work on.”
about three-quarters after outer space is really pow- There’s space for plenty
scientific study, public dis- erful about learning about more.q