The Fan of the Moon: Clive Neal searches for new resources in lunar rocks | News | Notre Dame News | University of Notre Dame






	
	





  	Skip To Content
	Skip To Navigation
	Skip To Search






  
  
    University of Notre Dame

    
      
      Notre Dame News

      
      
    


    
    
      
        
        
        	
	Experts
	ND in the News
	Subscribe
	About Us
	


      
        
          
          
          
          
          
        

      


      
    


    
    
      	 Home
	 Contact
	 Search
	
          
          
            
            
          
          Menu
        
        


      
        
          
          
          
          
          
        

      

    

  

  
  

  

  
    	Home › 
	News › 
	The Fan of the Moon: Clive Neal searches for new resources in lunar rocks


    
      
        
          The Fan of the Moon: Clive Neal searches for new resources in lunar rocks

          
            
              
                
                Published: March 22, 2021
              

              
                Author: Brendan O'Shaughnessy
              

              







          

          
          
          

          
        
        
        
            
              
              The Moon in the waning gibbous phase - a day or two after full moon.
            
          Clive Neal demonstrates the process of grinding the tiny samples of ash-like material collected from the surface of the Moon during an Apollo space mission in 1972. His graduate student, Jessika Valenciano, will prepare the minute Moon rocks from the other 19 canisters that arrived on campus in December to measure the exact chemical makeup to the parts per billion.

It’s somehow fitting that cutting-edge geological research of samples from outside this world begins with a tool that humans began using in the Stone Age. The mortar and pestle do their job so well that they may be the least-changed tool in human history. The rounded bowl and club-shaped pestle originated in the Stone Age are nearly identical to those used in kitchens today.

Neal, a Notre Dame professor of civil and environmental engineering and earth sciences, uses a mortar and pestle to grind 50 milligrams of lunar regolith — the ashy surface “soil” of the Moon — into a fine dust that will be dissolved in hydrofluoric and nitric acids. The solutions will be analyzed in lab machines the size of an office copier in Notre Dame’s Center for Environmental Science and Technology and Midwest Isotope and Trace Element Research Analytical Center to determine the abundances of major and trace elements the samples contain.

To read the full story, click here.

        

        
        
          
            
              Posted In:

              	Research


            

            

          

        
      
      
    
  
  
    	Home
	Experts
	ND in the News
	Subscribe
	About Us


  

  
  
    
      
      
      
        
          Related

          
            

    
        
    

  
    
      

      

      




October 05, 2022

    
    
      Astrophysicists find evidence for the presence of the first stars
    

  


    
        
    

  
    
      

      

      


October 04, 2022

    
    
      NIH awards $4 million grant to psychologists researching suicide prevention
    

  


    
        
    

  
    
      

      

      


September 29, 2022

    
    
      Notre Dame, Ukrainian Catholic University launch three new research grants
    

  


    
        
    

  
    
      

      

      


September 27, 2022

    
    
      Notre Dame, Trinity College Dublin engineers join to advance novel treatment for cystic fibrosis
    

  


    
        
    

  
    
      

      

      


September 22, 2022

    
    
      Climate-prepared countries are losing ground, latest ND-GAIN index shows
    

  

          
        
    
     
  
  

  
  
    
      	For the Media
	Contact


    
            
    
      
	Office of Public Affairs and Communications


      Notre Dame News

      
        
          
            500 Grace Hall
 
            Notre Dame, IN 46556 USA
          
          
          
          
        

        
          	 Facebook
	 Twitter
	 Instagram
	 YouTube
	 Pinterest


        
      

      
© 2022 University of Notre Dame

    
    
      

        
      
      
        
          	Search
	Mobile App
	News
	Events
	Visit
	Accessibility


        
        
          	 Facebook
	 Twitter
	 Instagram
	 YouTube
	 LinkedIn