The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) has submitted an internal request to Congress for permission to request lunar soil samples from China from the Chang'e-5 lunar probe.
The request was made because NASA considered the lunar samples obtained by China to be of "unique scientific value."
Indeed, given the political sensitivities and constraints on space cooperation between China and the United States over the past few decades, NASA's request to Congress for samples of China's lunar soil is itself quite a surprise.
Chief among them is a bill passed by the U.S. Congress in 2011 called the Wolf Amendment, which explicitly prohibits NASA from cooperating with China in space research in any form.
NASA's application for a sample of China's lunar soil is an obvious attempt to circumvent the bill's restrictions, which can be seen as an attempt to "break through" the amendment's red line.
So why is NASA obsessed with obtaining lunar soil samples from China this time?The reason is that the lunar samples collected by China's Chang'e-5 do have a unique location advantage compared with the previous Apollo series of lunar programs of the United States.
All the lunar landing sites selected by the United States that year are nearly 1,000 kilometers away from the "Storm Ocean" plain, the lunar landing site chosen by China this time, and the composition and structure of lunar soil in the two sites are very different.
Preliminary analysis shows that the content of titanium in the lunar soil samples obtained by China is as high as 31,100 milligrams per kilogram, which is 6 times that of the lunar soil on the earth and 2-3 times that of the samples brought back by the Apollo moon landing in the United States.
In addition, China chose to land near the youngest volcano from the lunar surface, which is also of great scientific significance for studying and analyzing the evolution of the moon's geological activity in recent decades.
In view of the fact that the United States has not carried out a lunar mission since the 60s of the last century, it has lost the opportunity to observe and study the moon first-hand.
Now, in the face of a series of lunar exploration programs actively carried out by China, India and other countries, NASA is eager to carry out some form and level of lunar scientific research cooperation with China, and strive to prevent the United States from completely losing its voice in lunar research.
China has provided lunar soil samples to many countries, but has not provided any samples to the United States so far. As a result, the progress of lunar research in the United States has already lagged significantly behind that of some other countries.
Against this backdrop, it is not difficult to understand why NASA would insist on obtaining lunar soil samples from China at the risk of crossing the red line of the US Congress. But the question is whether China will respond positively to this application
To answer this question, we need to look back at history a little. In 1978, the United States generously donated 1 gram of lunar soil sample to China, which pushed China to start its own space exploration.
In accordance with the etiquette of international diplomacy and traditional Chinese virtues, China may adopt a positive attitude and respond to the request of the US side with goodwill in return. However, the current U.S.-China relationship does not seem to be so simple.
When submitting an application to Congress to obtain samples of Chinese lunar soil, NASA made it very clear that this is only a "special case" and does not change the ban on China-US space cooperation under current US law, and NASA has no follow-up plans for substantive cooperation with China.
Obviously, the US side remains tough on the issue of political red lines. On the other hand, the China National Space Administration (CNSA) has given a frank reply in response: China is willing to share lunar soil samples with friendly international partners in principle, but whether or not it can ultimately cooperate depends on US policy.
It is clear that the United States is now only asking for our help when it needs it. However, it is very likely that this help will not bring any feedback to our country, and will not even affect the United States' position on suppressing our country in relevant fields.
In short, if the U.S. side still adheres to the current ban policy after obtaining lunar soil samples, it is unwilling to carry out any substantive cooperation. Then there is no need for our country to throw an olive branch to it again!