China has discovered an intriguing Moon crystal made of a previously unknown material. The crystal was discovered in a batch of lunar samples collected by China’s Chang’e-5. The mission made contact with the lunar surface back in 2020. Since then it has stocked up on roughly four pounds of Moon rocks and even delivered them to Earth. The new crystal, China says, may be a way to harness unlimited energy.
China discovered a key ingredient for nuclear fusion
The complete make-up of our Moon’s surface has long been a mystery. Aside from the Apollo missions in the 1970s, humans have not been able to revisit the Moon in decades. Because of that, studying the components that make up the Moon has been difficult. However, with the discovery of this new Moon crystal, China and other nations may have more reason than ever to travel to the lunar surface.
Finding a way to create unlimited energy has been a goal for scientists for many years now. Nuclear fusion is just one way that scientists have been looking into as a way to harness infinite energy with little waste. Finding important components for it in these Moon crystals is a big deal because it could allow us to harness those ingredients more readily in the future.
One of the primary ingredients found in the Moon crystal is helium-3, which scientists believe could be a stable fuel source for nuclear fusion reactors. However, this ingredient is exceptionally scarce on Earth according to Vice. But, because it seems so prevalent on the Moon, harnessing it from the lunar surface could make nuclear fusion reactors more viable for future power creation.
Of course, there’s still the matter of delivering it from these Moon crystals to the Earth, especially in the amounts needed to fuel fusion reactors. But, if it proves as openly available as scientists believe, we may see some breakthroughs in nuclear fusion in the future. This would allow us to power down harmful fossil fuel power reactors, further helping the ongoing climate change problems.
