Diamond sheds fresh light on Apollo Moon rocks

The group, which includes researchers from Tenerife, the US and the UK, is using a new advanced X-ray speckle imaging technique developed at the facility to examine samples from the Apollo 12 and 15 missions.

Dr Matt Pankhurst of Instituto Volcanológico de Canarias and NASA lunar principle investigator explained that the technique is being used to carry out 3D mapping of olivine – a common green mineral found in the Earth’s sub-surface and in these Moon rock samples. These maps will be used to improve understanding of the Moon’s ancient volcanic systems and help to understand active geological processes here on Earth.

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Commenting on the technique Dr Hongchang Wang, Senior Optics Scientist, said: “Combined with the recently developed fast fly-scan tomography and novel white beam camera, the X-ray speckle imaging technique has allowed us to swiftly and effectively collect 3D information of olivine inside of the lunar rock in much more detail than ever before.”