# Elemental Abundances of Moon Samples Based on Statistical Distributions of Analytical Data
## 2 Samples and Analytical Methods
### Analytical Methods  
The Apollo samples were first analyzed by the Lunar Sample Preliminary Examination Team of NASA. It reported a few samples' composition data, including major oxides and some trace elements without REEs for each mission [26; 27; 28; 29; 30; 31]. Later, other experts and scholars applied to NASA for samples, of which the analytical composition data have been reported one after another [17; 18; 19; 20; 36; 37]. The samples from the Luna missions were first analyzed and tested by the former Soviet Union [32; 33; 34]. Then after exchanging with the United States, the composition data was also analyzed and reported [32; 34; 38; 39; 40]. The composition data of CE5 samples have been analyzed and reported only recently [1; 2; 3; 5; 6; 7].  
The main analytical methods used to determine the composition data of moon samples are X-ray fluorescence spectrometry (XRF), inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICP-MS), instrumental neutron activation analysis (INNA), and electron microprobe analysis (EPMA), which can analyze many items such as major oxides, some trace elements, and/or REEs simultaneously [17; 36; 37; 38]. In addition, other analytical methods such as isotope dilution analyses (IDA), emission spectrography (ES), and radiochemical neutron activation (RCNA) were adopted to analyze the composition of Rb, Sr, Zr, Re, Au, etc. [41; 42; 43]. The analytical quality, such as the detection limits, precisions, accuracies, relative errors, and relative standard deviations, were illustrated in the original literature. In general, the relative errors were less than 5% for major oxides and 10% for trace elements, including REEs.  
\begin{table}
\begin{tabular}{c c c c c} \hline \hline
**Mission** & **Longitude** & **Latitude** & **Counts of Samples** & **Weight of Samples (kg)** \\ \hline Apollo 11 & \(23.47297\) & \(0.67408\) & \(183\) & \(21.55\) \\ Apollo 12 & \(-23.42157\) & \(-3.01239\) & \(218\) & \(34.30\) \\ Apollo 14 & \(-17.47136\) & \(-3.6453\) & \(272\) & \(42.80\) \\ Apollo 15 & \(3.63386\) & \(26.13222\) & \(364\) & \(76.70\) \\ Apollo 16 & \(15.49812\) & \(-8.97301\) & \(685\) & \(95.20\) \\ Apollo 17 & \(30.77168\) & \(20.1908\) & \(476\) & \(110.40\) \\ Luna 16 & \(56.3\) & \(-0.68\) & \(33\) & \(0.101\) \\ Luna 20 & \(56.5\) & \(3.57\) & \(34\) & \(0.030\) \\ Luna 24 & \(62.2\) & \(12.75\) & \(67\) & \(0.170\) \\ Chang’E-5 & \(-51.916\) & \(43.058\) & \(33\) & \(1.731\) \\ Sum & - & - & \(2365\) & \(382.982\) \\ \hline \hline \end{tabular}
\end{table}
Table 2: The counts of analyzed records collected in this paper from each mission with other information.  
Figure 1: The landing sites of Apollo, Luna, and Chang’E-5 missions.  
All the analytical data collected in this paper are from moon samples brought back from the Apollo, Luna, and CE5 missions (excluding meteorites found on the Earth) and have been reported in the literature. The analyzed samples are soils, brecias, and rocks, and the counts of analytical samples (or records) in each mission or landing site are listed in Table 2. There are 2365 records of analytical data of moon samples used in this paper in total.