China announced the discovery of a new mineral on the moon's surface named Changesite-(Y). A mineral that has been confirmed as a new discovery by the International Mineralogical Association (IMA). With this, China became the third country after the United States and Russia to find new minerals on the surface of the moon.
So far only six new minerals have been discovered on the moon since humans first sent probes to its surface. What makes this discovery interesting is that Changesite-(Y) was found to have the element Helium-3 which can be a source of nuclear fuel for a clean fusion reaction reactor because it does not produce radioactive waste. It is estimated that there are 1.1 million metric tons of Helium-3 on the moon's surface which, if mined, has the potential to become a source of clean energy supply.
Changesite-(Y) was found in a sample of lunar soil weighing 1.73 kilograms that was successfully sent back to earth by the Chang'e 5 space probe in 2020.
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