NASA Just Opened a 50-Year-Old Time Capsule From the Moon for the First Time
In December 1972, Astronaut NASA Eugene Cernan and Harrison Schmitt was drilled to the surface of the moon to collect moon soil samples for transportation back to earth. This week, NASA finally opened one of the sealed vacuum samples for the first time “We have the opportunity to open this very valuable sample which has been saved for 50 years under vacuum,” said Thomas Zurbuchen, Administrator Associate from the NASA Science Mission Directorate, in a statement. “We finally can see what treasure is held inside.”
Tubes are capsules of time, not only from the geological history in depth moon, but also from the previous time in the space time when our tools are more primitive “The body knows science and technology will develop and allow scientists to study the material in new ways to deal with new questions in the future,” said Lori Glaze, Director of the Planetary Science Division NASA.
Zurbuchen said the time was also a coincidence because it helped NASA prepare to return to the moon later this decade as part of the Artemis program. “Understanding the geological history and evolution of the samples of the moon on Apollo landing sites will help us prepare the type of sample that might be encountered during artemis,” he said.
Getting a preserved sample is not as simple as a hat appears. Before the sealed tube contents can be extruded, it was first scanned using X-Ray CT technology to make 3D images from what the team could expect to be found inside. Then all gas outside, the protective tube is collected for the study. Next, the inner container is stabbed to extract whatever gas inside “We have extracted the gas from this core, and we hope it will help scientists when they try to understand the moon’s gas signatures by looking at various aliquots [samples taken for chemical analysis],” said Ryan Zeigler, curator of the apollo sample).
Finally the gray of powder was pushed out of the cylinder and separated into a half centimeter increase. Even before starting the process on Monday, the team has done a dry run using mock-up in the lab. The whole process must be done by attaching hands to large gloves in the vacuum glovebox and manipulating special tools to get samples.
The work was done as part of the next generation sample program analysis of Apollo, or the Goose, at the Johnson Space Center in Houston. Now, with a cat out of the bag, or rather regolith from the tube, the sample needs to be analyzed to see what really has been waiting for half a century to be found.
Astromaterial NASA curator Francis McCubbin said the astronauts today will also pay a prize forward to scientists who work at the end of this century “We measure this sample for the long term, so that 50-year-old scientists in the future can analyze it,” McCubbin said. “Through Artemis, we hope to offer the same possibilities for the new generation of scientists.”
