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Sci-tech arts on Chang’e-5 lunar soil

2022; Elsevier BV; Volume: 3; Issue: 5 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1016/j.xinn.2022.100300

2666-6758

Wei Yang, Yi Wang, Lin Gao, Di Zhang, Jie Yang, Zhijie Qiu,

Space exploration and regulation

Since ancient times, humans have created artistic works using state-of-the-art techniques, thus exploring the relationship between technological advances and human developments. These activities are the prototype of "sci-tech art." For example, the precise control of smelting and casting in the Bronze Age gave birth to the Chime bells, the Zun wine vessel, and the Jue wine cup. The integration of material and firing technology resulted in ceramic art, which became one of the symbols of China. The rise of the study of anatomy reshaped how people saw the human body and the structure of the world around them, ultimately promoting the Renaissance. The development of photography technology led to the seventh art of films and cinema, which is now being reformed by the latest computer-graphics technologies. There is no doubt that new technologies will continue to move art forward and build a better world in the future.1Ascott R. The Future Is Now: Art, Technology, and Consciousness. Gold Wall Press, 2012Google Scholar Conversely, the vision of art also leads to the development of science and technology. For example, the artistic imagination of the starry sky has always been the driving force for deep-space exploration. De la Terre à la Lune by Jules Verne inspired the first pioneers of astronautics to dedicate their lives to solving the problems of space flight. Finally, in 1969, the Apollo 11 mission achieved the human dream of landing on the Moon. During the next 7 years, the six Apollo and three Luna missions returned approximately 382 kg of lunar samples, which have significantly enhanced our understanding of the formation and evolution of the Moon. The lunar samples were all collected from a regolith layer that nearly covers the entire surface of the Moon. It is the actual boundary layer between the solid Moon and space, providing critical information about both the Moon and the space environment around it.2McKay D.S. Heiken G. Basu A. et al.The lunar regolith.Lunar sourcebook. 1991; 567: 285-356Google Scholar Besides some rocks, many samples are fine-grained lunar soil with particles 355 μm fraction contains 146 particles. Each particle was scanned using the same microscope at a higher resolution of about 1 μm. Based on the internal structures revealed by the X-ray microscope, the different types of particles can be identified, including 40 basalt, 36 breccia, 37 agglutinate, 32 glass, and 1 olivine fragments. We took focus stacking micrographs for each particle and selected 42 particles to prepare sample mounts. Backscattered electron images and elemental mapping were carried out on a Thermo Scientific Apreo scanning electron microscope. Then, we chose 13 particles to prepare thin sections 30 μm thick and took reflected light and crossed polarized light micrographs. On the basis of the above 2D and 3D image data, we performed the 3D reconstruction and multi-source data fusion of the lunar soil particles. Figure 1 exhibits an example of one lunar soil particle (CE5C0600YJFM00402, 137), which is approximately 700×600×400 μm in size. The X-ray microscope revealed its internal structure (Figure 1C), suggesting it is a basalt fragment. Its focus stacking micrography (Figure 1D) shows that it mainly consists of pyroxene (brown), plagioclase (white), and ilmenite (dark). Based on the reflected light, crossed polarized light, backscatter electron, and mineral distribution images of one cross-section (Figures 1E–1H), this basalt fragment shows a subophitic texture, where pyroxene partially encloses the plagioclase. It contains 44.3% pyroxene, 39.4% plagioclase, 1.5% olivine, 12.2% ilmenite, and 2.6% silica. This basalt indicates that volcanic activity once occurred on the Moon, and the small grain size of the fragment reflects the continuous space weathering on the lunar surface. Based on the 3D topography and the focus stacking micrograph, the 3D visualization of this particle was reconstructed (Figure 1I), taking into account the intensity and incidence angle of the sunlight at the Chang'e-5 landing site. Thus, an amazing scientific and yet artistic way to present the fine lunar soil particles to the public was created. In this study, artists have been involved from the beginning of the scientific research, giving an artistic vision for image acquisition and 3D model reconstruction. This collaboration opens up a new paradigm of fusion of science and art. This way, artistic creations can bring scientific discoveries to the public, presenting details of the research and making science more popular. Shortly, artists will create artistic works based on the current results, making science more aesthetic. With the development of microscopy, image processing, and virtual and augmented reality technologies, this new paradigm will be widely applied in other fields of scientific research, promoting the deep integration of science, technology and art. The China National Space Administration provided the Chang'e-5 lunar samples. We thank Dong Ran, Huijuan Zhang, Jujie Guo, Hengci Tian, Renhao Ruan, and Tong Wu for their assistance with the research. This study was funded by the Strategic Priority Research Program of Chinese Academy of Sciences (XDB 41000000), the Key Research Program of Chinese Academy of Sciences (ZDBS-SSW-JSC007-15), the pre-research project on Civil Aerospace Technologies of China National Space Administration (Grant No. D020203), the key research program of the Institute of Geology and Geophysics, Chinese Academy of Sciences (IGGCAS-202101). The authors declare no competing interests.