Which animal was the first to go around the moon in a spacecraft and return to earth

A new mineral was found on the Moon by China's spacecraft. The Moon is one of the most studied objects in our solar system. But every once in a while, the Moon can still surprise us. China often being in the news for all the wrong reasons. It's great news to hear that they have made an incredible discovery of a new mineral found on the Moon.

With the new lunar mineral found, china now becomes the third country in the world to discover a mineral on the Moon. The mineral, named Changa site Y, was discovered in lunar rock and dust brought back by China's first lunar sample return mission called Change Five, which sets sail in 2020. Over 1400 lunar particles were retrieved from the mission thanks to the researcher's advanced techniques like X-ray diffraction, they were able to separate this itty bitty crystalline particle. The diameter of this colorless transparent columnar crystal was roughly one-10th of that of a single human hair or ten microns. It is a phosphate mineral found in lunar basalt and it is now considered officially China's first newly discovered mineral on the Moon.

At the same time, it is the 6th lunar mineral ever found by mankind. The mineral phosphate is also present on our planet Earth and is the mineral's natural source of phosphorus. It's an important nutrient for plant growth and development, so it's no surprise that plants thrive when exposed to it. While it's bad for humans in large doses, it could be instrumental in helping our spacefaring heroes cultivate the lunar surface. After the recent discovery of a new mineral on the Moon, China has announced its intention to send three unmanned missions to the Moon over the next ten years.

This is part of China's strategy to compete with the United States in the new era of space exploration. Let's hope the tension between the two stays within the realms of space exploration and not nuclear bombs. The discovery of China's first lunar mineral was a landmark achievement, but scientists from the University of Florida have grown plants in lunar soil, marking a significant step forward in lunar and space exploration. Soil from the Moon was brought back from the Apollo 1112 and 17 missions, and scientists Rob Ferrell and Anna Lisa Paul demonstrated that plants could thrive and grow in the soil. Because lunar regolith is so drastically different from our soil, the researchers also looked into plants' biological responses.

This research paves the way for future efforts to cultivate plants on the Moon or spacecraft to provide food and oxygen. Who knows, a Moon base might be built in the next ten years, especially now that Artemis programs goals to bring humans back to the Moon coincide with the timing of this study. Arabidopsis Thaliana, or Thealecrest, is a common model plant used in scientific experiments because of its small size and ease of growth. Since it is one of the most researched plants, scientists have a good idea of how it grows in space, what its genes look like, and how it responds to various environmental conditions. To cultivate an arabidopsis and only a few teaspoons worth of lunar regolith, the scientists planted seeds in lunar soil, supplemented the soil with water, nutrients, and light, and then just recorded the outcomes of their efforts.

Researchers weren't sure beforehand if any of the arabidopsis seeds they planted in their miniature lunar garden would sprout, but to their amazement, they all started to grow after two days. However, by day six, it was apparent that the plants grew differently depending on the sample type and were not as robust as the control group plants growing in volcanic ash. The plant's growth slowed down, its roots became stunted, and its leaves became smaller and more reddish in color. After 20 days, the team harvested the plants, ground them up, and analyzed the results. It then proved that the plants were indeed experiencing stress and that they had reacted in a manner similar to how scientists had observed an arabidopsis reaction when grown in other extreme and harsh environments, such as soil that is too salty or contains heavy metals.

Plants grew differently, with the Apollo Eleven samples producing weaker plants than those produced by the other two sets of samples. But on the positive side, the plants were successful in growing and discovering minerals like what China just did. And growing plants on lunar soils will not only help us learn more about the moon's evolution, but it may pave the way for us to establish agricultural communities on the lunar surface. In the long run, more of these discoveries will help future astronauts on their way to the moon, opening up new possibilities for human exploration. In other news, the James Webb Space Telescope has just made an incredible discovery at the edge of our universe.