China Shares Rare Moon Rocks With Us Despite Trade War

China will fto scientists from six countries, including nan US, analyse nan rocks it collected from nan Moon - a technological collaboration that comes arsenic nan 2 countries stay locked successful a bitter waste and acquisition war.

Two Nasa-funded US institutions person been granted entree to nan lunar samples collected by nan Chang'e-5 ngo successful 2020, nan China National Space Administration (CNSA) said connected Thursday.

CNSA main Shan Zhongde said that nan samples were "a shared wealth for each humanity," section media reported.

Chinese researchers person not been capable to entree Nasa's Moon samples because of restrictions imposed by US lawmakers connected nan abstraction agency's collaboration pinch China.

Under nan 2011 law, Nasa is banned from collaboration pinch China aliases immoderate Chinese-owned companies unless it is specifically authorised by Congress.

But John Logsdon, nan erstwhile head of nan Space Policy Institute astatine George Washington University, told BBC Newshour that nan latest speech of Moon rocks person "very small to do pinch politics".

While location are controls connected abstraction technology, nan introspection of lunar samples had "nothing of subject significance", he said.

"It's world practice successful subject which is nan norm."

Washington has imposed tariffs Chinese equipment that spell up to 245%, while Beijing has deed backmost pinch 125% tariffs connected US goods.

US President Donald Trump antecedently hinted astatine a de-escalation successful nan waste and acquisition war, but Beijing has denied that location were negotiations betwixt nan 2 sides.

In 2023, nan CNSA put retired a telephone for applications to study its Chang'e-5 satellite samples.

What's typical astir nan Chang'e-5 Moon samples is that they "seem to beryllium a cardinal years younger" than those collected from Apollo missions, Dr Logsdon said. "So it suggests that volcanic activity went connected successful nan satellite much precocious than group had thought".

Space officials from nan US and China had reportedly tried to discuss an speech of satellite samples past twelvemonth - but it appears nan woody did not materialise.

Besides Brown University and Stony Brook University successful nan US, nan different winning bids came from institutions successful France, Germany, Japan, Pakistan, nan UK.

Shan, from nan CNSA, said nan agency will "maintain an progressively progressive and unfastened stance" successful world abstraction speech and cooperation, including on nan abstraction accusation corridor nether nan Belt and Road Initiative

"I judge China's circle of friends successful abstraction will proceed to grow," he said.