China’s 1st set of lunar soil bricks return from Moon as country advances infrastructure plans

By Saadet Gokce

ISTANBUL (AA) — China’s first batch of experimental “lunar soil bricks” has returned to Earth after spending a full year in space, marking a new step in Beijing’s long-term plan to build infrastructure on the Moon, state-run China Daily reported Wednesday.

The bricks arrived last week aboard the Shenzhou-21 spacecraft after being exposed to the extreme conditions of space to assess whether they could withstand use in constructing lunar habitats.

China launched the project after the Tianzhou-8 cargo spacecraft transported simulated lunar-soil samples to the space station last November. Experts said the bricks remained in good condition after a year in orbit.

Beijing sees the development as progress toward its broader lunar program, which aims to land astronauts on the Moon by 2030 and build a basic model of the International Lunar Research Station by 2035. Under the three-year project, additional sample batches will return after one, two and three years for detailed analysis.

-China’s ‘ghost particle’ detector makes 1st major physics breakthrough

Separately, China’s Jiangmen Underground Neutrino Observatory (JUNO), the world’s largest transparent “ghost particle” detector, announced its first major physics breakthrough after confirming the existence of the “solar neutrino tension,” according to CGTN.

Neutrinos are fundamental but extremely difficult-to-observe particles. For years, scientists have noted a mismatch between measurements taken from the Sun and data gathered from nuclear power plants, a discrepancy referred to as “tension.”

During its first operational run from Aug. 26 to Nov. 2, JUNO measured these parameters with 1.5 to 1.8 times greater accuracy than any previous experiment, verifying that the inconsistency is real rather than a measurement error.

JUNO will now focus on its main scientific objective: determining the “mass ordering” of neutrinos and identifying which type is the heaviest.