🌟 In an out-of-this-world collaboration, Chinese and French scientists have just wrapped up an epic mission measuring radon gas and polonium on the moon! 🌕🚀 Using the French DORN payload on China's Chang'e-6 lunar probe, they've taken lunar exploration to the next level, according to the Institute of Geology and Geophysics (IGG) of the Chinese Academy of Sciences. 🛰️
DORN, which stands for Detection of Outgassing RadoN, isn't just a cool name—it’s a groundbreaking instrument capable of detecting radon gas, its decay products on the lunar surface, and even charged particles in space. Talk about multitasking! 🌌
The mission's scientific goals? To uncover the mysteries of the moon's thin atmosphere, delve into the thermal and physical secrets of lunar soil, and track the movements of lunar dust. Basically, they’re turning moon science up to eleven! 🌠
Professor He Huaiyu, co-chief scientist of DORN from the IGG, shared that the radon-gas detector had been exposed to Earth’s atmosphere for months before launch. But no worries—it was first activated on May 6, while cruising 320,000 kilometers away from Earth! 🌍✨ It worked for about 10 hours, measuring background space noise and natural lunar \"pollution.\" Pretty rad, right? 🤘
Reference(s):
Chinese, French researchers complete lunar radon-gas detection mission
cgtn.com
