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NASA to open up 50-year-old sealed moon rock samples
After announcing the nine teams that were given the chance to look at moon rock samples collected nearly 50 years ago in March, NASA will finally open the vault where they were stored.
The locked vault is located at the Johnson Space Center in Houston and the government space agency is allowing select teams to examine it using 21st-century technology.
"It's a coincidence that we're opening them in their anniversary year," "but certainly the anniversary raised awareness and the fact that we're going to go to the moon again," said Ryan Zeigler, curator of the Apollo exhibit at NASA told The Associated Press while wearing a white protective suit, cloth boots, gloves and a hat.
From 1969 to 1972, 12 astronauts returned lunar samples weighing a total of 382 kilograms. Some of the rock and soil samples were vacuum-packed on the Moon and have never been exposed to Earth's atmosphere.
Zeigler noted that due to technological improvements over the past 50 years, the space agency was wise to wait to analyze lunar samples.
"We can do more with a milligram than we could do with a gram back then. So it was very good of them to wait," he said.
In all, there are more than 100,000 samples from the Apollo lunar inventory, including some of the original 2,200 that are broken into smaller pieces for study.
Perhaps ironically, Apollo 11 produced the fewest lunar samples, with Aldrin and Armstrong collecting only 48 samples. NASA wanted to minimize the risk Aldrin and Armstrong faced, given that they were the first people to walk on the Moon.
The astronauts' extravehicular activity, or the time they spent on the Moon's surface outside of the Eagle landing, lasted just 2 hours, 31 minutes, and 40 seconds.
What are the teams that will be able to review the NASA samples
The nine teams that were selected to study the samples are:
NASA Ames Research Center/Bay Area Environmental Research Institute, NASA Ames, NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, University of Arizona Goddard University, Berkeley, Naval Research Laboratory the United States Mexico and Mount Holyoke College / Planetary Science Institute.
"By studying these precious lunar samples for the first time, a new generation of scientists will help improve our understanding of our lunar neighbor and prepare for the next era of exploration of the Moon and beyond."
These were the words of Thomas Zurbuchen, Associate Administrator for NASA's Science Mission Directorate, in an April statement.
"This exploration will bring new and unique samples to the best laboratories here on Earth," he added.
In total, the teams will receive $8 million to study the lunar samples, with each team receiving varying amounts of samples.
"Everything from the weight of a paper clip, to a mass so small you can barely measure it," Zeigler said.
The benefit of studying these rocks
Although only 15 percent of the rocks that were collected on the Moon have been previously studied, scientists have been able to learn a great deal, not only about the Moon itself, but about the solar system as a whole.
Ziegler said scientists have determined the ages of the surfaces of Mars and Mercury, and established that Jupiter and the other large outer planets in the solar system likely formed closer to the Sun and then migrated outward.
"So sample return from outer space is really powerful for learning about the entire solar system," he added.
About 70 percent of the haul is still in the specimen vault, 15 percent is in custody in White Sands, New Mexico, and the rest has been turned over for research or display.
How is the Moon 50 years later
Interest in the Moon has become a hot topic in the American nation, due to the upcoming anniversary (which will be the 50th) of the Apollo 11 Moon landing.
Auction houses around the world are selling anything and everything related to the Moon, brands like LEGO, partner with NASA on collectibles and Buzz Aldrin, the song by Michael Collins and Neil Armstrong, Mark and Rick, have had a high demand.
Earlier this month, Fox News spoke with the Armstrong children, who described in detail what it was like to sit at home in front of the television, watching their father walk on the Moon, along with the rest of the world.
"We had two TVs in the house, so people were huddled around both of them, some in the living room and some in one of the bedrooms, I think," said Mark, who was 6 at the time. “Friends, family, neighbors, everyone was in and out. And of course we also had the squawk box, which I think was installed in the bedroom at the time, so we could hear what was going on, more than most."
On July 20, 1969, the Eagle lunar module landed in the Sea of Tranquility and Armstrong entered the pages of history when he became the first man to walk on the Moon and uttered those iconic words:
"One small step for Man is one giant leap for mankind."
