China Discovered A New Lunar Mineral That May Be A Future Energy Source @TheCosmosNews

#thecosmosnews China is aiming to launch three unmanned missions to the moon after discovering a new lunar mineral that could be an energy source in the future. The space race between China and the US is accelerating after Beijing s National Space Administration got the go-ahead to launch three orbiters to the moon over the next 10 years, it announced on Saturday. The news was first reported by Bloomberg. It comes a day after China became the third country to discover a new lunar mineral, which it called Changesite-(Y), according to Chinese state-controlled newspaper the Global Times. China s Chang e-5 mission retrieved samples from the moon in 2020 and it has been described by Global Times as a "phosphate mineral in columnar crystal" found in lunar rock particles. The mineral contains helium-3, which could be a future source of energy. The discovery may put more pressure on the US to ramp up its efforts after its Artemis I moon mission was postponed for a second time. Moon mining could be the next source of tension between the countries as NASA is also probing the moon s south pole where China plans to build a research station in conjunction with Russia.