Bangkok– China’s space officials said Thursday they welcomed scientists from around the world to apply to study the lunar rock samples brought back to Earth by the Chang’e 6 probe. on a historic missionbut he noted that there were limits to that cooperation, specifically with the United States.
Officials said at a televised news conference in Beijing aimed at presenting the mission’s achievements that any cooperation with the US would depend on eliminating a US law that prohibits direct bilateral cooperation with NASA.
“The source of the obstacle in US-China aerospace cooperation remains in the Wolf Amendment,” said Bian Zhigang, vice president of the China National Space Administration. “If the United States really wants to hope to start regular aerospace cooperation, I think we should take appropriate measures to remove the obstacle.”
The Wolf Amendment was enacted in 2011 and prevents direct bilateral cooperation between the United States and China, except in cases where the FBI can certify that there is no national security risk from sharing information with the Chinese side in the course of work. .
Still, China could cooperate with scientists from other countries. He worked with the European Space Agency, France, Italy and Pakistan on the Chang’e 6 mission.
“China welcomes scientists from all countries to apply according to the processes and share the benefits,” said Liu Yunfeng, director of the international cooperation office of the China National Space Administration.
Meanwhile, little information was announced about the global first reached on Tuesday. Chinese officials declined to reveal how many samples they actually collected or any preliminary findings.
“I’m afraid this matter will not be revealed until tomorrow, so I hope everyone can wait patiently until another day,” Chang’e 6 chief designer Hu Hao said at the press conference.
On Monday, Chinese scientists said they anticipate the returned samples will include 2.5 million-year-old volcanic rock and other materials that scientists hope will answer questions about geographic differences on the two sides of the moon. The mission aimed to collect two kilograms (more than four pounds) of material.
The visible side of the Moon is the one seen from Earth and the hidden side looks into outer space. The other side is also known to have mountains and impact craters and is much more difficult to reach.
The probe’s trip to the far side of the Moon was historic because it was the first time a probe had successfully taken off and brought back samples directly from the far side. Previous samples believed to come from the far side of the Moon came from meteorites found on Earth.
The probe had landed in the Moon’s South Pole Aitken Basin, an impact crater created more than 4 billion years ago. The samples scientists expect will likely come from different layers of the basin, containing traces of different geological events along its long chronology, such as when the moon was younger and had an active interior that could produce volcanic rock.
Officials announced some future plans, with a Chang’e 7 probe planned to explore resources at the Moon’s South Pole. Later, they have planned Tianwen-3 for around 2030 to carry out a Mars sample return mission and a Tianwen-4 Jupiter exploration mission.
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