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NASA officials during the heyday of the Apollo program, realizing that the technology of their era was limited, set aside some of the original lunar samples in vacuum-sealed containers that have sat untouched for over fifty years. One of these original vessels containing a pristine sample is now set to be opened. This particular sample was gathered by Astronaut Gene Cernan in 1972 of the Apollo 17 crew from the Taurus-Littrow Valley on our moon and is a 70cm airtight tube of lunar soil and gas. This airtight vessel known as sample 73001 was then placed in another vacuum sealed container upon its return to Earth.
The sample will be opened with “a piercing tool built by ESA” according to a Press Release, they wrote,
“A pretty special gift unwrapping will soon take place – a piercing tool built by ESA will open a Moon soil container from Apollo 17 that has gone untouched for nearly 50 years. The opening will allow the extraction of precious lunar gases which may have been preserved in the sample.
Analysis of the gaseous volatiles will allow scientists to better understand the geology of the Moon and help engineers to design better sampling tools and techniques for future missions to the Moon or even Mars.
The gas extraction experiment is part of the larger Apollo Next-Generation Sample Analysis (ANGSA) programme that coordinates the analysis of pristine Moon samples from the Apollo era. And for the first time ever, ESA is involved in the opening of soil returned from the Moon.
“The opening and analyses of these samples now, with the technical advancements achieved since the Apollo era, can enable new scientific discoveries on the Moon. This can also inspire and inform a new generation of explorers,” says Francesca McDonald, science and project lead of ESA’s contribution to ANGSA.”
Piercing A Sealed Container To Study Moon Gases
Now when we think about the moon, we don’t think about gasses because the moon has really no atmosphere… right? Correct. However, trapped within and clinging closely to the surface of the moon are trace gases emitted by the very soil and stones themselves through a process called outgassing.
The “lunar atmosphere” for lack of a better term, the incredibly thin collection of gas particles (an air pressure of about 3×10−15 atm or 0.3 nPa) is for all intents a near-vacuum but the little gas contained is primarily Argon, Helium, and Neon with trace amounts of Sodium, Potassium, and Hydrogen according to more recent explorations.
In addition to the lunar soil and rock which have been studied extensively for decades, what 21st-century technology and techniques can bring is the ability to truly study this ultra-thin lunar atmosphere.
“The piercing tool is a solution for accessing the gases. We are eager to learn how well the vacuum container preserved the sample and the fragile gases,” says Francesca.
Due to technological limits, it is these gases that have not been thoroughly studied yet. Jokingly called the “Apollo can opener” this new device will enable Earth-based scientists to better study sealed sample vessels from Mars, Europa and other astronomical bodies as further unmanned and manned missions deliver them home to us.
