NASA-funded researchers have been allowed to apply for access to China’s Chang’e-5 lunar samples under the dual ban. An internal email sent on November 29 notified NASA researchers that they could apply to the China National Space Administration (CNSA) for access to portions of the samples collected by China’s Chang’e-5 mission.

“NASA has notified Congress of its intention to allow NASA-funded researchers to apply to the China National Space Administration for access to lunar samples brought to Earth by the Chang’e-5 mission and recently made available to the international scientific community for research purposes. ” – the email says.

The move creates a rare opportunity for collaboration between China and NASA-funded organizations and researchers. This also comes despite NASA Administrator Bill Nelson’s harsh rhetoric towards China and his stated support for maintaining current restrictions on cooperation.

The Wolf Amendment is a provision in NASA’s annual appropriations laws that severely limits bilateral cooperation with PRC agencies. Any person or entity seeking to participate in NASA-funded bilateral activities requires prior written request and prior authorization from Congress, as well as a certification from the FBI that such activities will not pose a risk to national security.

China launched the Chang’e-5 mission in late 2020. The complex mission, consisting of four spacecraft, involved landing on the Moon, liftoff from the lunar surface, docking in lunar orbit, and re-entering the atmosphere at high speed. Using a scoop and drill, the mission collected 1,731 grams of material from the geologically young Oceanus Procellarum region. The country said it would first make the samples available internationally by granting access to Chinese researchers and institutions.

Examples are the history and evolution of the Moon, its composition, etc. He created a number of scientific studies on the subject. CNSA announced that international-led teams will be able to apply for samples in August this year, 2.5 years after the landing of Chang’e-5.

“The Chang’e 5 sample comes from regions of the Moon not yet sampled by NASA and is expected to provide valuable new scientific information about the Moon’s geological history, which may provide new insights into the Earth-Moon system and potentially inform NASA’s lunar future plans for their research “, – stated in an email from NASA.

“Referring to samples ensures that researchers in the United States have the same research opportunities as scientists around the world.”

The email contained instructions on how to apply for the seventh round of requests for access to Chang’e-5 samples through CNSA web pages. Applications are accepted until December 22, 2023. Researchers are asked to contact an official NASA representative for guidance on next steps if their application is selected. The email emphasized that the authorizations specifically apply to samples of the Chang’e-5 mission and that the usual ban on bilateral activities with China for NASA-funded projects remains.

This is an exciting and welcome development, planetary scientist James Head from Brown University in Providence, Rhode Island, told SpaceNews via email.

“The Moon is actually a big place, and our Apollo and Soviet Moon samples come from a limited portion of the central and northeastern part of the Moon. “We did not sample landing sites on the other half of the Moon (the far side of the Moon) or the northwestern and southern parts of the near side of the Moon.”

“The solar system is a big place, and planetary science could benefit greatly from additional non-duplicative research and sharing of samples and other results.”

It is unknown how the CNSA will respond to requests for samples from NASA. In recent years, China has built its own Tiangong space station after being effectively blocked from participating in the International Space Station. He also claims that Tiangong is open to everyone but the ISS is not.

Allowing NASA researchers access to Chang’e-5 samples could benefit the agency’s Artemis project. Meanwhile, China is planning its own parallel but separate International Lunar Research Station (ILRS). Some of the missions within these umbrellas target overlapping areas at the Moon’s south pole.

But allowing NASA researchers access to Chang’e-5 samples could hand China a public relations victory. It could also potentially lead to deeper interaction in the future. The question of whether the USA and China would cooperate on the Chang’e-5 lunar samples had previously been raised. NASA officials have ruled out a bilateral agreement on sample exchange with China in 2021.

Nelson has previously said cooperation could depend on greater transparency from Beijing. “Cooperation with China depends on China,” he said at the 73rd International Astronomical Congress (IAC) in Paris in 2022. “There should have been clarity here, but there wasn’t.”

Head, meanwhile, sees this as a potential window for collaboration on future missions, including the 2024 Chang’e-6 mission to send samples to the far side of the Moon and beyond.

“It appears that the window may also open to reference samples returned from Mars by China’s Tianwen-3 Mars sample return mission, which will be directed to a different location than the samples currently stored in Crater Lake.” [марсоходом Perseverance]This further improves our knowledge about Mars,” Head said.