The Institute receives a precious sample of lunar basalt from the Chinese Chang’e-5 mission

Frédéric Moynier has just been awarded a sample of lunar basalt collected by the Chinese Chang’e-5 mission, following an international call for proposals issued by the China National Space Administration (CNSA). This is the very first sample from this mission to be attributed to a scientific institution outside China. It is the youngest known material from the Moon (2 billion years old).

The sample was officially presented to Frédéric Moynier at a ceremony at the National Astronomical Observatories in Beijing, in the presence of Mr Mathieu Grialou, the CNES representative in Beijing.

This attribution bears witness to the international recognition of the IPGP’s expertise in the study of planetary bodies and extraterrestrial matter.

Two other samples from the same Chang’e-5 mission were symbolically offered by President Xi Jinping to President Emmanuel Macron during a state visit to China. These two samples, supplied in sealed enclosures that may have preserved lunar birds, have been preserved by the Museum National d’Histoire Naturelle de Paris (MNHN) in a under controlled atmosphere chamber. They will shortly be transferred temporarily to the IPGP to extract the volatiles in a new room designed for the study of extraterrestrial samples and financed by the CNES.