NASA Scientists Open One of the Last Sealed Apollo 17 Moon Samples

Over the past few years, a few unopened Apollo-era lunar samples collected during Apollo 17 have been opened by a team of lunar sample processors and curators in the Astromaterials Research and Exploration Science (ARES) Division at NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston. These types of core samples, studied under the Apollo Next Generation Sample Analysis Program, or ANGSA, allow scientists to learn more about the permanent, geological record of Earth’s closest celestial neighbor – the Moon. This is Apollo 17 soil sample 73002 use advanced technologies including non-destructive 3D imagery. The sample processing team includes Charis Krysher, Andrea Mosie, Juliane Gross, Ryan Zeigler. Retired NASA astronaut, Dr. Harrison Schmitt, along with Apollo 17 Commander Gene Cernan, helped collect the original samples from the lunar surface and Schmitt lent his expertise to the modern-day analysis.

As part of the agency’s Artemis program, NASA is preparing to go back to the Moon, this time to the South Pole, to find more samples for current and future generations to study.

Credit: NASA