China unfurls its national flag made of ‘stone’ on the moon

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BEIJING, June 6, (Xinhua): While collecting lunar samples on the far side of the moon, China’s Chang’e-6 mission thrilled the nation with a photo of the bright red Chinese national flag unfurled on the desolate lunar surface. Even more interestingly, one of the fl ag’s raw materials is basalt, which piqued the curiosity of netizens and sparked lively discussions on social media. “Unbelievable! I thought making a national flag out of stone was something you’d only see in sci-fi novels,” commented a user on China’s popular social media Sina Weibo.

The China Aerospace Science and Industry Corporation (CASIC), the main developer of the national flag display system, explained that during the journey to the moon, the Chang’e-6 probe faced intense radiation and extreme temperature fluctuations, making ordinary materials unsuitable for the lunar flag. Basalt fiber boasts exceptional insulation and radiation resistance, making it ideal for withstanding the harsh conditions on the lunar surface. However, as an inorganic fiber, it is smooth and brittle, which makes it difficult to spin and maintain in high-durability colors, according to the CASIC.

The team of researchers from CASIC overcame many technical challenges to develop the national flag with superior corrosion resistance, high-temperature tolerance and low temperature endurance by utilizing technologies such as basalt melting and drawing. The basalt rocks came from Yuxian County in north China’s Hebei Province. The team pulverized and melted the basalt rocks, then drew them into ultra-fine fibers roughly one-third the diameter of a human hair, before spinning them into threads and weaving the threads into fabrics, said Zhou Changyi, a designer of the Chang’e-6 probe.

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