Moondust Outwardly Ordinary

Press, Volume CIX, Issue 32114, 9 October 1969, Page 18

Moondust Outwardly Ordinary

“Unless you were a scientist you would not give moondust a second glance,” said Professor B. G. Wyboume, professor of physics at Canterbury University, after seeing a sample at the Argonne National Laboratory near Chicago.

Professor Wybourne visited the laboratory after attending a N. A. T. O. Advanced Study Institute course in Turkey, where he lectured on compact groups in atomic physics.

“It’s just a blackish-grey material," he said. “You could make something like it by grinding up a bit of charcoal.” But study of the moon samples was producing many intersting facts. All the volatile elements such as potassium, sulphur, and sodium had been “boiled off,” and

this could have been caused either by volcanic activity, the weaker gravitational pull, or the solar wind. On the other hand, scientists had found, the moon possessed considerable quantities of noble gases (formerly known as inert gases) such as neon and helium, which had come from the solar winds. “They have found no evidence of any minerals that could not be identified on earth,” said Professor Wybourne. “They are now searching for super-heavy elements that might be caused by cosmic rays hitting the moon's surface.” Professor Wybourne said that the American space sci-

entists were now eagerly awaiting samples from the next moon landing, so that they could compare material from different areas. On his way to Turkey, Professor Wybourne visited Prague, and spent some time with five Czech scientists, all of whom spoke English. “They were all extremely bitter,” he said. “A year ago they felt that there was some reason to hope, but now they were completely disillusioned. They told me they would not be able to talk like that—so critically—for much longer.” Professor Wybourne said the Czech scientists complained of dreadful scientific facilities and a complete lack of maintenance on equipment He knew from his own observations that the same was true in Russia.