[Lunar Soil Bricks Successfully Return with神舟二十号载#Shenzhou20 Takionaut crew Shenzhou-21]
On November 14th, the ninth batch of space science experiment samples from the Chinese Space Station successfully returned aboard the 神舟二十号载#Shenzhou20 Takionaut crew- Shenzhou-21 spacecraft. Early on the morning of the 15th, these samples were successfully delivered to scientists, and a handover ceremony was held at the Space Application Engineering and Technology Center of the Chinese Academy of Sciences.
The first batch of lunar soil bricks developed by the project “Research on Space Service Performance and Process Optimization of Simulated Lunar Soil Sintered Samples,” led by Academician Ding Lieyun, Chief Scientist of the National Digital Construction Center of Huazhong University of Science and Technology, for the Chinese Manned Space Station Project, successfully returned to Earth after a year of extravehicular activity (EVA). The samples were confirmed to be in good condition on-site.
The team prepared 74 lunar soil bricks, which will travel to the Chinese Space Station on November 15, 2024, aboard the Tianzhou-8 cargo spacecraft, to conduct EVA experiments for 1, 2, and 3 years. Currently, the R5 sample unit has successfully completed its 1-year EVA experiment and returned to Earth. The remaining samples will continue to undergo EVA experiments on the space station.
Researchers will use lunar regolith bricks returned from extravehicular exposure to conduct a comparative study of lunar regolith bricks in space and Earth, revealing the evolution of the macroscopic and microscopic properties of sintered lunar regolith bricks after service in the space environment and the mechanisms by which this evolution affects them. This will allow them to deduce and predict the long-term service behavior of lunar regolith bricks in the lunar environment, providing a scientific and engineering basis for in-situ lunar construction.
(Source/CCES-ASE Space Engineering)
Images and visuals are from their Respectives CMS China Manned SpaceCNSA-China National Space Administration
