When the six Apollo missions that landed on the moon returned home, some samples of lunar rocks and regolith they brought with them were stored, pristine and unopened. This is because scientists wanted to preserve them for a later date when more advanced instruments could be used for their analysis.
This is amazing. I can’t even imagine the excitement that these scientists must be feeling to study these samples. It is like going back in time in more ways than one. First, they are taking a short trip back to the Apollo missions of 1972. Then, continuing thousands of years as they make new discoveries of the different chemical signatures they find in each layer of rock sample. I hope that waiting for today’s technology will prove worth it for them.