The moon soil samples retrieved by China's landmark Chang'e 5 mission are now entering the next stage – full-blown scientific research. Scientists say the samples could soon reveal answers to some of the most sought-after questions about the Earth's closest celestial neighbor. CGTN's Sun Ye has more.

Less than 18 grams of moon soil samples have been doled out to 13 eager scientific institutions on Monday each in the order of milligrams.

A rigorous selection process has taken place just to get a tiny speck from the moon.

ZHU RIXIANG Director, Expert Committee on Lunar Samples Academician, Chinese Academy of Sciences "It's quite competitive and we held up a high bar when evaluating applications. Each application must be approved by at least two thirds of the expert committee. Such attention from scientists is natural: the samples could also lead to a better understanding of deep space. With such enthusiasm from applying scientists, coupled with their established work environments, we could get new findings within a year."

It's the first batch scientific samples distributed from the 1.7 kg of soil the Chang'e 5 mission delivered at the end of last year and they could hold the key to telling just how old the moon really is.

LIU DUNYI Institute of Geology, Chinese Academy of Geological Sciences "The Chang'e samples are special in that they come from the moon's youngest region. And if the basaltic section we applied for indeed contain the right composition, we could be able to determine the age of the youngest magmatic activity on the moon. And compared with investigations from Apollo samples, which come from an older part of the moon，we could have a fuller picture of the moon's magmatic evolution."

DU WEI Institute of Geochemistry, Chinese Academy of Science "The samples are so precious. The amount is tiny but could hold rich information. We're particularly interested in the process of shock metamorphism. And we hope to finally map out how the soil originated and what its history can tell us."

SUN YE Beijing "While none of the moon soil samples went to overseas researchers yet, officials with the national space administration say scientists from other countries are welcome to join Chinese researchers in their scientific investigations. They also say the next round of review for applications could start this fall. SY, CGTN, Beijing."