Polytechnic University on Wednesday said it is planning to apply for lunar samples from the Chang’e-6 space mission.

The spacecraft returned on June 25, bringing back the first samples ever collected from the lunar face that can’t be seen from Earth. PolyU developed a device to collect the samples.

The university previously acquired lunar soil samples collected in the Chang’e-5 mission from the China National Space Administration, including a 400 mg surface sample and a 42.6 mg deep drill sample.

Professor Yung Kai-leung, who heads the university’s Research Centre for Deep Space Explorations, said such samples are hard to come by.

“The lunar regolith is very very precious. Even if you are able to get 400 milligrammes, even for one crystal or one particle of the lunar regolith, we will be able to actually tell a lot of stories from there,” he said.

Yung said the team is eager to compare soil samples from both sides of the moon.

“That actually has a lot of significance. Because we can see the front side, meaning that side is actually protected by Earth, especially from the magnetic field and the Earth’s gravity,” he said.

“But on the far side, it’s open to the bombardment of all the different meteorites as well as solar winds, direct effect from the solar system.”

The team will also look into finding water in moon soil by analysing its content and formation process.