Xinhua news agency, Changsha, December 25 – the precious lunar soil brought back by Chang’e 5 has “settled down” in Shaoshan City, Hunan Province.
On the morning of December 25, the handover ceremony of chang’e-5 backup and storage samples was held in Shaoshan City. The National Space Administration handed over the Lunar Sample backup certificate to Hunan University, marking the official opening of Shaoshan base for Lunar Sample backup and storage of lunar exploration project.
It is understood that in 2014, Hunan University was approved to build the country’s only Lunar Sample backup storage base in Swan mountain, Shaoshan City. In November 2021, the project passed the completion acceptance and approval, and has the conditions for backup storage of lunar samples.
Yuetu’s “new home” is located in Swan mountain, Shishan village, Qingxi Town, Shaoshan City. It looks like a gray and white courtyard building surrounded by green trees. There are special storage rooms and storage devices inside the “new home”, which can avoid the lunar soil from being affected by various physical and chemical processes.
“Lunar soil storage should be safe and reliable, and the conditions are very harsh.” Hu Hao, chief designer of the third phase of the lunar exploration project, said that the backup storage equipment is designed and developed according to the nitrogen filling environment slightly higher than the atmospheric pressure to meet the requirements of long-term storage and unchanged basic characteristics of lunar soil.
In addition, according to experts, the preliminary survey found that there has been no collapse and landslide disaster in Swan mountain area, and the geological conditions are relatively good, which is suitable for remote disaster recovery and backup of lunar samples.
Zhang Kejian, director of the National Space Administration, said he hoped that Shaoshan base would give full play to the spillover effect of lunar sample storage, attract more scientific research institutes, high-tech enterprises and colleges and universities to join the lunar and planetary exploration project, further promote the development of space industry and gather more innovative and entrepreneurial talents.
