PiSigma
"the engineer"
Maybe because NASA never went to the moon... Filmed in Hollywood... Jkjk
Most likely answer is the geology of where the dirt is extracted. Where you dig will give you different soil.
China's Space Program News Thread
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Most likely answer is the geology of where the dirt is extracted. Where you dig will give you different soil.
You are asking the right questions....but the rabbit hole goes deep
Maybe the soil composition was different on the different sites (different density, harder to break etc), or the tool the Chinese used to drill was more advanced(I think this is likely) and collected more complete samples.
Basalt
Obsidian
Granite
All are from Earth. I am sure the moon has a variety of soil and rocks too.
IDK why there is a spherical sample, but the rest? Different places, different geology, erm, selenology. The Earth, Mars, Mercury, etc. are all heterogeneous in their make up. IDK why anyone would think the Moon would be different.
broadsword
Brigadier
I don't think it is a sphere. I think the sample is enclosed in a circle or sphere. Might even be cropped that way.
by78
General
That's unlikely to be a sphere. To analyze soil sample in a lab, they often prep it by mixing it with with distilled water or some other chemical. That's what the images show.
Quickie
Colonel
That's what I thought at first until I noticed the "1 mm" scale indication at the bottom right and the irregularities on the bottom left edge of the sample.
Quickie
Colonel
I was specifically referring to the moon's regolith.
Anyway, I would expect Moon rock samples to be much more homogenous than those from Earth (like those you posted) because of the moon's much less active geological/erosion process compared to Earth.
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