Why did NASA bring so many Moon rocks but almost did not touch them?

There are still hundreds of kilograms of Moon land being stored in NASA warehouses. After more than 40 years, why is there still so much?

On July 20, 49 years ago, Buzz Aldrin was the first to set foot on the Moon. And also on this day, they became the first to directly acquire samples from another celestial body and bring them back to Earth.

During later Apollo missions, astronauts continuously collected soil samples from this Earth's oldest satellite. According to NASA expert Ryan Zeigler - a total of 2,200 samples were taken, weighing up to 382kg of land for research.

The rock on the Moon is the most valuable research resource.

Zeigler is the expert responsible for researching and storing soil samples from outer space - including meteorites and Mars too. He said that of nearly 4 quintals of land, scientists only used about 16%.

And even that 16% has at least one third to display it. 1/4 is destroyed through tests, and the rest are being analyzed.

Why should you be so shy?

The reason is also simple!All is to save the next generation of science.

"Priority should be considered now to try not to use too many specimens, so that future generations can continue to study," Zeigler said.

"What Apollo brings is really important, because the cultural value and history it brings cannot be denied. Of course, we have to preserve that land."

In short, the most important thing is how to make the next generation of science have enough Moon rocks to study. Because technology is always evolving, and analysis results at this time will be different in the future.

The most important thing is how to make the next generation of science have enough Moon rocks to study.

"Every decade has passed, we have new technology, enough to analyze samples at a higher level of accuracy."

"Our understanding of the Moon, and beyond that, the entire Solar System has been constantly evolving thanks to only the specimens brought by Apollo."

Within the last 6 years, Zeigler received 351 requests for Moonstone models - that is, about 60 applications per year. That is equivalent to about 692 samples per year, and each sample weighs 1-2g.

Although not all requests are approved, Zeigler releases about 525 samples each year - 75% of the required number.

"No matter how hard we try, we are gradually reducing the number of residual specimens."

The good news is that there are still 84% of specimens yet to be touched. This is a fairly large number, enough to ensure that many generations later are able to find hidden secrets on our billion-year-old satellite.