An ESA scientific instrument dropped off by China's lunar lander detected negative ions on the far side of the Moon.
      • machinin@lemmy.world
        29·
        5 months ago

        Thanks, but yeah, the article just says the following:

        The observations could have considerable implications for our understanding of what goes on in other spots in our celestial neighborhood that aren’t protected by a magnetic field either.

        “These observations on the Moon will help us better understand the surface environment and act as a pathfinder to explore negative ion populations in other airless bodies in the Solar System,” NILS principal investigator Martin Wieser explained in the statement, “from planets to asteroids and other moons.”

        It doesn’t really say why negative ions are significant, just that they are found in places without a magnetic field and may help us understand similar places. The research seems more in-depth, and the article send to lack important details.

    • VeganCheesecake@lemmy.blahaj.zone
      33·
      5 months ago

      You should always read scientific publications with a healthy dose of scepticism - not because science isn’t to be trusted, but because trying to falsify it’s results and finding potential issues is an important part of the process.

      If you do that, I don’t see why you should treat Chinese papers differently. Sure, a country with an authoritarian government with a cultural emphasis on face might produce some papers that aren’t factual due to that specifically, but dismissing the scientific output of a nation of over a billion people over that seems backwards.

    • machinin@lemmy.world
      10·
      5 months ago

      This is actually from the European Space Agency. They collaborated with China to deliver the instrument to the moon.