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KIDS: Our world!
EVAN: Woo! Rock on, Globey.
Today on Our World we're learning about lunar rock...
Actually, I'm not talking about music...
but rather rock samples collected by NASA's
trips to the moon!
During NASA's Apollo missions,
the crew brought back a staggering 382 kilograms
of rock samples from the moon in a wide range of sizes.
Some were as large as a football,
while other samples were as fine as talcum powder.
These little pieces of the moon are valuable samples
that can teach us a lot about how the moon formed
and how it has changed.
So where does NASA keep all of these samples from the moon?
Well, they built a special building to house
the samples...
The Lunar Sample Laboratory Facility
at NASA's Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas.
The Lunar Sample Laboratory Facility provides a secure,
controlled place for the lunar rocks to be stored.
Keeping the lunar samples from being contaminated
by earthly materials is important because these
samples are still studied by scientists all over the world.
In fact, the Lunar Sample Laboratory Facility is kind
of like a library for moon rocks. These priceless lunar
samples are ďchecked outĒ by scientists, carefully
studied, then sent back to the facility.
As you might imagine, sending moon samples around the world
without getting them contaminated is a tough job.
Our World traveled to the Johnson Space Center to see
where the lunar rocks are stored
and who takes care of them.
This facility was so clean that our crew had
to wear special suits to keep from
contaminating where the moon rocks are housed.
ANDREA MOSEY: My name is Andrea Mosey and
I'm a principal scientist at the Lunar Sample Facility.
On a daily basis, I work on Moon Rocks.
We house the rocks
that were brought back from the 6 Apollo missions.
We actually curate them here at Johnson Space Center
at our Lunar Sample Facility.
EVAN: Ms. Mosey, I understand that it's very important
to keep the lunar samples pure so they can be accurately
studied by scientists. So, how do you store them?
ANDREA: Samples are protected by being in these glove boxes.
It's a very pure type nitrogen that's used in the glove boxes.
We don't touch the samples except with the tools that we
have which are stainless steel, aluminum, Teflon
or with a Teflon glove. We are in the business
of protecting these precious gems
which are from the moon from all earthly type materials.
EVAN: So storing the moon rocks in nitrogen gas and only
touching them with certain materials helps keep them pure.
Well, Ms. Mosey, would you mind
showing us what a moon rock looks like?
ANDREA MOSEY: In this particular cabinet,
there is an Apollo 16 sample that we call ďBig MuleyĒ.
This sample was collected by an Apollo 16 astronauts.
It was about a football size sample.
And you can see that it has been cut with our band saw.
No oils are lubricants are used because that would contaminate the sample.
This rock also had a large white crystal on top.
And you can actually see part of it that's still
protruding right here. It also has features on here
that we call zap pits.
These pits are caused when meteorites
strike the surface of the Moon.
The ejecta is thrown up and when it comes down, it makes
these tiny little craters and we call them zap pits.
You won't find any zap pits on rocks on Earth because of
our atmosphere. When samples come into our atmosphere,
they either burn up before entering our atmosphere
or they come in as very small pieces.
EVAN: Wow! It's amazing how much the moon can teach
us about our own planet! Thanks Ms. Mosey.
So, the next time you look up at the Moon,
think about lunar rock!!
Wow! Thank you Cleveland. Long live lunar rock.
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KIDS: Our World!