NASA opens sealed Apollo sample ahead of Artemis missions

[gary]

In a November 6th 2019 press release from the University of New
Mexico, NASA have announced that they have opened the seal on
an untouched Moon rock that was collected on the Apollo 17 mission.

Originally Posted by University of New Mexico

“We are able to make measurements today that were just not possible during the years of the Apollo program,” said Dr. Sarah Noble, ANGSA program scientist at NASA Headquarters in Washington. “The analysis of these samples will maximize the science return from Apollo, as well as enable a new generation of scientists and curators to refine their techniques and help prepare future explorers for lunar missions anticipated in the 2020s and beyond.”

Since the Apollo era, all samples that were returned to Earth have been carefully stored in the laboratory to preserve them for future generations. Most samples have been well studied, and many are the subject of ongoing research. However, NASA also made the decision to keep some samples completely untouched as an investment in the future, allowing them to be analyzed with more advanced technologies as they are developed. These include samples that remained sealed in their original containers, as well as some stored under special conditions, all intended to be opened and analyzed with more advanced analytical technologies than were available during Apollo.

Full press release, photos, video here :-
https://news.unm.edu/news/nasa-opens...temis-missions

University of New Mexico (UNM) Institute of Meteoritics news home page :-
https://news.unm.edu/news?t=UNM+Inst...of+Meteoritics