China moon mineral discovery: Here’s why Changesite-(Y) could fuel a gold rush for lunar mining

In a laboratory in Beijing, a vial of moon dust, scraped from the lunar crust by a Chinese rover, holds a tiny crystal that could one day power a nuclear reactor.

The crystal mineral was identified by scientists at Beijing’s Research Institute of Uranium Geology, and has been dubbed “Changesite-(Y),” after Chang’e, the Chinese mythological goddess of the moon. Also sharing that namesake is China’s first lunar sample-gathering rover, Chang’e 5, which collected the dust in the winter of 2020.

The crystal, which appears as a colorless, transparent column with a radius of just 10 microns, could prove to be a gold mine for the future of space exploration—or at least, a form of lunar gold that countries will rush to mine. Its chemical composition contains helium-3, a heavier isotope of helium that has existed naturally within the earth’s crust since primordial times but has slowly escaped into outer space over the epochs, now becoming exceedingly rare on our planet. Helium-3 is believed to be a valuable source of nuclear fusion energy—and one that also avoids the terrifying side effect of turning its surroundings radioactive. On the moon, it’s thought to exist in abundance, swept into the regolith by billions of years of solar winds.

If humankind were ever to expand its standing in the universe, such a source of nearly boundless, carbon-free energy would be crucial to its survival.

The discovery makes China the third country to identify a new lunar mineral, behind the United States and the formerly Soviet Russia. And in doing so, it signals a shifting dynamic in the 21st century’s space race, as China seeks to join the two historic superpowers in the quest to colonize the skies. While the country has lagged thus far—deploying its first moon rover decades after its predecessors—it has supercharged its efforts in recent years, launching its pioneer space station last spring. On Saturday, inspired by the Changesite discovery, Beijing’s National Space Administration revealed it would send three orbiters to the moon over the next 10 years. Meanwhile, the agency’s heralded Mars rover, launched in July 2020, rivals NASA’s own efforts on the Red Planet.

The United States remains the only nation to ever land an astronaut on the moon, a feat it hopes to replicate for the first time in half a century with its Artemis missions. But with its first test flight now postponed due to technical glitches, tension hangs in the balance over what experts say will be the next shining trophy for international space programs: the infrastructure to mine for minerals on the moon, which could fuel an industry worth billions of dollars. So contentious is the competition—and so treasured the prize—that political warfare has already begun over how to govern theoretical mining businesses in space.

Helium-3 is the beating heart of this ambition, along with two other critical resources that are being depleted on earth: water and so-called rare earth metals, which are used to produce modern electronics, and which estimates say could be drained from our planet in 15 to 20 years.

Next up, China’s Chang’e program will target the moon’s south pole, which scientists believe is the most likely region to harbor water. In the coming years, NASA expeditions will take aim at the same place.