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Forty-seven years after the Apollo 14 mission, which had collected astronauts on the moon and brought them back to Earth, the researchers discovered that one of the samples contained a rock that could have come from the planet in which we live, probably one of the oldest in the world.
An international team from NASA recently analyzed samples obtained by Apollo 14 in 1971 and discovered that a rock contained a piece of gram of quartz, feldspar and zircon, rare on the Moon but common on Earth.
Image of the rock:
The chemical analysis showed that this part was crystallized in an oxidizing environment at temperatures identical to those observed during the early stages of terrestrial life, before being sent into space.
As a result of a massive impact on the Earth about 4.4 billion years ago, it is likely that the collision of an asteroid or a large comet on the Earth sent these pieces to the moon. Scientists have stated that this effect caused the release of these substances by the Earth's atmosphere into space, where they collided with the surface of the moon (three times closer to Earth than today) and then mixed with other lunar materials in a sample.
Scientists say that they may have been buried by another impact of 3.9 billion years ago. The study suggests that it could have come to the surface, where it was discovered by the Apollo mission, caused by a collision 26 million years ago.
"This is an unusual discovery that will help give a better picture of the Earth in its infancy and the collision that has transformed our planet," said David King, author of the study. .
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