Chang'e-5 lunar samples are stationed in French museums, and France will conduct inter-organizational joint research.

CTOnews.com, June 19 (Xinhua)-- China presented 1.5g lunar soil samples collected by Chang'e-5 to the French scientific community in April this year, according to the Science and Technology Daily. Today, these samples have been officially settled in the French Museum of Natural History and will be preserved for a long time in a customized environment.

In the next 5-7 years, the French Museum of Natural History will jointly study the sample with the French National Space Centre, the French National Research Centre, the Paris Geophysical Institute and the Paris Sorbonne University to form a national extraterrestrial matter center. French laboratories have the world's leading experience in dealing with ultra-fine measurements of alien samples.

CTOnews.com previously reported that Chang'e-5 successfully returned to Earth on December 17, 2020, bringing back lunar samples with a total weight of 1731 grams. This is also the first lunar soil specimen to be brought back to Earth since the Apollo program of the United States and the Soviet moon program in the 1970s. These samples are collected from the northeastern part of the lunar Storm Ocean, including both surface samples and subsurface samples from deep layers. The study of these samples will help to better understand the formation and thermal evolution of the moon, as well as the mineral composition of the lunar surface.

It is worth noting that this is not the first time that Chang'e-5 lunar samples have been housed in a museum. Lunar sample 001, with a total weight of 100 grams, officially entered the National Museum of China on February 26, 2021. The lunar sample is wrapped in transparent artificial crystals, and round lunar soil particles can be seen from multiple directions. The exhibit number is "GB93484".