Why did NASA apply for lunar soil from China?  Don’t they already have a lot of it?  Will the U.S. Congress agree?

为什么NASA要向中国索要月球土壤？他们不是已经有很多了吗？美国国会能同意吗？

以下是Quora网友的评价：

David Head

NASA, doesn’t have any and neither does China.

The reason for this is simple, no one has ever been into “Space” let alone to the “Moon” !

NASA没有，中国也没有。

原因很简单，从来没有人真的进入过“太空”，更不用说“月球”了！

John Waldeck

To be honest, you’d want to get soil from as many places of a planet or moon as you can, because the geology will vary from place to place. Unless the Chinese probe lands & takes soil from one of the 6 Apollo landing sites, I can’t see why you *wouldn’t* want a sample from a new site…

说实话，你会想要从行星或卫星上尽可能多的地点采集土壤，因为地质情况会因地点的不同而不同。除非中国探测器从阿波罗6个着陆点之一着陆并采集土壤，否则我不理解为何不想要在新地点采集的样本…

Declan Hackett

If I gave you 1 gram of material taken from the middle of the Sahara, could you scientifically deduce the exstence of the Himalayas?

This is the point. The Apollo missions returned a lot of material from the lunar surface. Most of it was loose soil and small rocks picked up by the astronauts. Given the need for human safety, most of the landing sites were on the lunar plains, meaning they all investigated similar territory.

如果我给你1克取自撒哈拉沙漠的材料，你能科学地推断出喜马拉雅山的存在吗？

这就是问题之所在。阿波罗任务从月球表面带回了大量物质，其中大部分都是松散的土壤和宇航员捡起的小岩石。考虑到航天人员的安全，大多数着陆点都在月球平原上，这意味着他们研究的范围都是类似的。

The sole exception was Apollo 16 which landed in the Descartes Highlands, within walking range - in case the Lunar Rover failed - of possible volcanic sites; the samples taken showed they weren’t.

The Russians carried out three sample-return missions which got deeper into the soil than the astronauts - Luna 24 drilled down to 2m - but in similar areas to the Apollo missions. Their samples just confirmed what was already found.

唯一的例外是阿波罗16号，它降落在笛卡尔高地，在距离可能的火山地区的步行范围内—如果月球车出现故障的话；但采集的样本显示那里不是火山。

俄罗斯人进行了三次采样返回任务，这些机械采集任务比宇航员手动采集更深入土壤表层—月球24号钻到了2米深—但还是在和阿波罗任务的相似区域。这些样本只是在此证实了已经发现的物质。

Chang’e 5 was sent into rougher territory where you wouldn’t risk landing a crew, and drilled about 1m down. And the samples indicate volcanic activity around 1.9 billion years ago, at which time it was believed the moon was geologically inert. That’s why NASA want a piece of the sample; because it appears to be radically different to what they recovered.

As for Congress, it should be a formality. When Chang’e 4 was launched in 2019, Congress granted an exemption to the Wolf Amendment allowing NASA to fill in gaps in Chinese communications with the lander and relay telemetry.

嫦娥五号抵达了月球地表更崎岖的地区，在那里宇航员不能冒险着陆，机器钻头向下钻了大约1米深度。这些样本表明，大约19亿年前月球上存在火山活动，而人们曾经认为在地质学角度，当时的月球是不活跃的。这就是NASA想要一份样本的原因；因为这似乎与他们找到的物质完全不同。

至于国会，应该就是一道手续流程。2019年嫦娥四号发射时，美国国会就批准了沃尔夫修正案的豁免，允许美国宇航局填补中国与着陆器和中继遥测通信的空白。

Stephen Lowe

Q: Why did NASA apply for lunar soil from China? Don’t they already have a lot of it? Will the U.S. Congress agree?

NASA has previously examined Lunar soil, and has the ability to tell the real from simulated.

问：美国宇航局为什么要向中国索要月球土壤？他们不是已经有很多了吗？美国国会会能同意吗？

美国国家航空航天局此前曾对月球土壤进行过研究，也有能力区分真实和模拟的土壤。

Yevgeniy Leto

Because they are from different locations on the moon. I am sure China asks for US lunar soil samples too.

I am also sure that US has a lot of soil samples from all over the world, even though they are all from the same planet Earth.

因为这些土样来自月球上的不同地点。我相信中国也会向美国索要月球土壤样本。

我也相信美国有很多来自世界各地的土壤样本，尽管它们都来自同一个地球。

Joseph Newcomer

Congress does not have to agree. Congress is not even involved.

不需要国会的同意。国会完全没有插手其中。

iangwei Tang

Why does NASA shamelessly request China to spare samples from the moon to them while they have an exclusion policy to work with China?

为什么NASA出台了政策将中国排除在合作对象之外，现在还敢厚着脸皮向中国索要月球土样？

Actually, I think NASA is not “that” shameless.

Because the anti-China acts are not made by NASA, but some politicians in DC. I believe at least some of the NASA scientists and engineers do not agree on these acts but they can do nothing.

It is a very typical incident that the political interferes the professional field.

实际上，我认为NASA也没有“那么”无耻。

因为反华行为是华盛顿政客主导的，并非NASA所为。我相信有些NASA的科学家和工程师并不认同这些行为，但他们也无能为力。

政治干涉专业领域是非常典型的事件。

China can get sample from moon, which means even if not as good as US in space technologies, China is not too far away. And consider we still know very little about the moon, any progress from any countries should not be overlooked.

However, unlike the scientists and the engineers, who knows the Chinese strength, the politicians in DC are far away from the fact. In their thoughts China is still a backward(maybe one hundred years from USA) country, so that cutting of the connections with China will damage China only.

So it is also a very typical incident that the fool interferes the wise.

中国有能力从月球上获取样本，这意味着即便中国目前在太空技术上还不如美国，但差距也不会太大。我们对月球仍然知之甚少，任何国家的任何进展都值得重视。

但和了解中国实力的科学家及工程师不同，华盛顿的政客们不愿承认现实。在他们看来，中国至今仍是一个落后国家(可能比美国落后了100年)，所以切断与中国的沟通只会对中国造成损害。

所以愚人干涉智者也是非常典型的事件。

Kenneth Lim

Why does NASA shamelessly request China to spare samples from the moon to them while they have an exclusion policy to work with China?

Why must you think so negatively about international co-operation. Why can’t you accept China as part of the world community? It’s natural that China achievement can be shared by the world? So far, China has never created war outside China and is not imposed their value on others. Why can’t you be fair towards China?

为什么NASA出台了政策将中国排除在合作对象之外，现在还敢厚着脸皮向中国索要月球土样？

你为什么对国际合作抱有如此消极的看法呢？为什么你不能接受中国也是国际社会成员的事实？中国的成就就应该自然而然地为世界所共享吗？到目前为止，中国从来没有在国外挑起过战争，也没有把自己的价值观强加给过别人。你为什么就不能对中国公允一点呢？