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Nasa urges researchers to reach out for China’s Chang’e 5 moon samples, sidestepping US ban

  • In exception to congressional Wolf Amendment, the space agency is encouraging applications to its Chinese counterpart
  • The CNSA’s latest application round is the first to be opened to academics outside China

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The China National Space Agency’s latest application round to study the lunar samples retrieved by the Chang’e 5 mission is the first to be open to international researchers. Photo: Xinhua
Ling Xinin Ohio
Nasa researchers have been given the go-ahead to study China’s moon samples, in the first collaboration of its kind between the two countries’ space agencies.
US law has kept Nasa and its counterpart the China National Space Administration (CNSA) at arm’s length but, in a turn of events, they will be allowed to work together, at least on this occasion.
In an internal email on Wednesday, the US space agency said it had “certified its intent to Congress” to allow Nasa-funded researchers to apply to the CNSA for access to the lunar samples, collected by China’s Chang’e 5 mission in 2020.

The applications would normally be illegal under the so-called Wolf Amendment – passed by the US Congress in 2011 and named after then Republican senator Frank Wolf – which bans Nasa from cooperating with China unless authorised by lawmakers.

According to the Nasa email, the application for access was necessary because of the “unique value” of the Chinese samples, which had been “made available recently to the international scientific community for research purposes”.

The email made clear that the green light for applications was an exceptional case. “This allowance applies specifically to Chang’e 5 mission samples; the normal prohibition on bilateral activity with PRC on Nasa-funded projects remains in place,” it said, referring to the People’s Republic of China.

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