The Chinese mission Chang’e-6 brought to the earth samples of the hidden face of the moon, which have served to respond to some differences with the visible face and the greatest impact suffered by the satellite, which left a 2,500 kilometers in diameter basin.
Researchers headed by the Chinese Academy of Sciences publish four articles on the 1,935 grams of material from the South-Aitken Pole Basin (PSA) collected by Chang’e-6 and that arrived on Earth in 2024.
The PSA account is the largest, deepest and oldest known impact structure of the Moon, previous studies indicated that it was formed by a colossal impact approximately 4,250 million years ago, which released an energy superior to that of one billion atomic bombs.
The observations of the moon had already revealed differences in the thickness of the cortex, the volcanic activity and the chemistry of the rocks between both sides, whose origin has been subject to debate.
The team analyzed the isotopic composition of the volcanic rock samples taken in the SPA basin and compared them with others obtained during the Apollo missions on the visible side.
The now published studies indicate that the face hides two different volcanic phases, 4,200 million and 2.8 billion years ago, indicating that this activity persisted for at least 1.4 billion years, much more than was thought.
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Now it is also known that the magnetic field of the Moon had a rebound 2,800 million years ago, suggesting that the lunar dynamo fluctuated episodically instead of constantly fading.
The mantle of the hidden face of the moon has a significantly lower water content, which indicates that the volatile elements are unequally distributed in the lunar interior, which adds another aspect to the asymmetry of the satellite.
The geochemical analysis of the basalt points to a source of ‘ultra -grato’ mantle, probably the result of a mainly exhausted mantle or a massive extraction of molten triggered by great impacts, which highlights the role of the great impacts on the formation of the deep interior of the moon.
The authors conclude that the samples recovered by the Chang’e-6 mission provide a means to study the early formation of the lunar mantle, and that subsequent studies can offer more information on the processes that underlie the differences between the nearby side and the distant side.
With EFE information
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