Chinese scientists discover two new rare-earth lunar minerals

Chinese scientists discovered two new lunar minerals, namely magnesiochangesite-(Y) and changesite-(Ce), from samples returned by the Chang’e-5 mission. Both are rare-earth phosphate minerals found in microscopic lunar soil grains, featuring unique crystal structures not seen on Earth. The discovery follows their 2022 find of changesite-(Y), taking the global count of lunar minerals to eight.