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Moon Rocks Still Giving Up Gritty Secrets

Lunar rocks have helped unlock secrets of solar system, demise of dinosaurs

By Katherine Thompson, Newser Staff

Posted Jul 8, 2008 6:00 AM CDT

(Newser) – Almost 40 years after Apollo astronauts brought samples of the moon back to Earth, the extraterrestrial rocks are still yielding new information, the New York Times reports. In addition to attention from the Johnson Space Center, where they reside, samples are mailed out—on loan only, and usually less than a gram—to 40 or 50 research groups around the world each year.

Comparing the ages of rocks with the cratering on the surface they came from has resulted in a yardstick of sorts for dating bodies in the solar system—and the chemistry of some samples helped lead to the impact theory of dinosaur extinction. Other research looks to the future: how to extract oxygen from lunar dust and use microwaves to build roads on the moon.

The dark areas on the moon are newer deposits of basalt, while the light highlands are an older anorthosite. Determining the rocks' ages chemically was a key aid in dating the solar system. ((c) ohgloryyyyyy(:)

The Lunar Sample Laboratory Facility loans out 400 moon rocks each year to researchers interested in everything from the conditions at the formation of the solar system to the extinction of dinosaurs. (Getty Images)

The lunar samples, brought back after each Apollo landing, reside in Johnson Space Center, with a combined weight of 842 pounds. (Archive Photos)

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Moon Rocks Still Giving Up Gritty Secrets

Lunar rocks have helped unlock secrets of solar system, demise of dinosaurs

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Fox host asks how the Moon got there in first place, calls critics 'pinheads'

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Moon Rocks Still Giving Up Gritty Secrets

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OTHER STORIES ON OUR RADAR

geology • solar system • moon • Apollo missions • lunar exploration • crater • moon rock

MOST POPULAR STORIES

[ By Views ]

[ By Comments ]

More Newser Stories

Lost Moon Rock Found in Clinton Files

Apollo 17 rock languished in gubernatorial files

New Moon Images Show Astronaut Tracks

They also show debris left behind from Apollo missions

Moon Younger Than We Thought

Rock analysis shaves 200M years off moon's age

NASA May Have Found Lost Lunar Probe

Lunar Orbiter 2 crashed on dark side of the moon

O'Reilly Returns to Space, Defends God-Tide Theory

Fox host asks how the Moon got there in first place, calls critics 'pinheads'

About Us

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Newser By Users

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What is Newser?