The Chinese national flag flown on the far side of the moon is made from basalt fibers.
In Chinese, basalt rock is named Xuanwu rock, after the mythical animal that is often used to represent the direction of the north and the season of winter.
“We crushed and melted the rocks in order to pull them into thin threads with a diameter about one-third that of a hair,” said Prof. Zhou Changyi with the National Space Science Center of the Chinese Academy of Sciences.
Zhou told CGTN that the flag could last over 10 millennia on the moon, as the material is highly resistant to corrosion, heat and cold.
The material could also be used to build China’s lunar research base in the future, Zhou said, as the moon has an abundance of this type of rock.
CREDITS: news.ctgn.com / CGTN / EPA
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