One of the last lunar samples from the Apollo missions to the moon will be opened soon by NASA. The sample will be used to understand the conditions that astronauts can expect when they return to the moon under the Artemis program.
The sample will be opened by the ARES team at the Johnson Space Center. It contains rocks and soil from the lunar surface. The sample was vacuum sealed while on the moon.
The vacuum-sealed portion of the tube was opened in 2019. When the sample was collected, the temperatures were very low. It's possible that there could be violates like water ice or carbon dioxide inside, which would be a valuable source of information about how to collect similar samples in future missions.
Understanding the geologic history and evolution of the Moon samples at the Apollo landing sites will help us prepare for the types of samples that may be encountered during Artemis. This is an exciting learning opportunity to understand the tools needed for collecting and transporting these samples, for analyzing them, and for storing them on Earth for future generations of scientists.
The agency knew that science and technology would evolve and allow scientists to study the material in new ways in the future. She referred to the Apollo Next Generation Sample Analysis Program, the team leading the sample analysis, as created specially for this purpose.
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