A moon time capsule

After 50 years of waiting, researchers began opening and examining a special sample of the moon last March.

Apollo 17 mission astronauts rammed a cylinder into the remnants of a landslide on the northern half of the moon in 1972 and safely returned the soil sample to Earth. Now, researchers are beginning to uncover the secrets of this lunar story tube layer by layer.

It’s not about opening and tipping. When the sample was taken, the temperature was extremely cold. It is therefore possible that lunar gases and volatile substances were also preserved. So it’s been waiting in a vacuum for 50 years, but recently a team of scientists from the Johnson Space Center in Houston thought it was time.

But how do you handle a jar full of valuable knowledge? First, CT scans and high-resolution 3D images of the contents were taken. The dry practice was also performed a number of times to ensure that nothing was lost during the opening. The powder is now ready for examination. What it can tell us with current technology remains to be seen.

Read more: NASA Scientists Begin Studying 50-Year-Old Apollo 17 Frozen Moon Samples†