At the start of June 2024 , China ’s Chang’e 6 lunar investigation successfully touched down on the far side of the Moon , land softly near the lunar south pole .
Its master deputation , which it performed alongside variousside quests , was to study and return the first - ever samples from the Moon ’s far side . It did so , bringing a thumping 1,935.3 gm ( 68 . ) of material from the lunar surface on June 25 .
The Moon istidally lockedto Earth , meaning that its revolution speeding around its own axis of rotation compeer the fourth dimension it takes to orb around the earthly concern . This is the case for most major planet - lunar month systems where the planet is much big than its moon and close enough to it , as the smaller body ’s revolution speed is altered as it orbits the major planet with much more mass until they are in sync .
The crust is thick at the SPA basin.Image credit: Y. Qian
Often referred to as the " dark side " of the Moon , the far side actually have about thesame amount of sun . However , there are notable departure between the two sides , which researchers realized after the onset of space traveling . Though heavily cratered , the far side of the Moon does not have the bass basins and " lunar seas " escort on the dear side , and its crust was measured to be thicker by the Gravity Recovery and Interior Laboratory commission in2012 . It also , weirdly , seem to bemore conductive .
Studying these sample could help assoil up some of these mysteries , perhaps severalise us a little more about how the Moon imprint . Taking the first expression at the samples , geologist from Hong Kong University found that the Chang’e 6 landing site at the South Pole - Aitken ( SPA ) basin is abundant in magmatism , where magma cools and solidifies , forming igneous rock .
" The result of this research set a significant geological framework to study plutonic rock’n’roll in the Chang’e-6 sample , especially Mg - rooms rocks , " Professor Xianhua Li , an academic at the Chinese Academy of Science , said in astatement . " Their petrogenesis and timing are unclear , and this research would dramatically help to understand their origin mechanism . "
The study , in conjunction with previous studies of material and observance gathered from the dear side of the Moon , break key volcanic conflict between the two faces , likely related to crustal thickness .
In areas where the crust is thick , extrusive volcanism ( where magma fall on the control surface and then poise ) is seen to be dominant .
" For average - thickset - gall regions , such as Oppenheimer crater [ … ] , dikes stall under brecciated volcanic crater floors and laterally spread to form sills . For thick - crust regions , such as the outside of SPA and the majority of the FS , magma overpressure can not substantiate its eruption , and dikes tend to intrude and stall , remain in the crust , " the squad explains in their theme . " The extensive intrusive magmatism across SPA is uniform with its medium - thick crust [ … ] , like to the female horse – highland boundaries of the PKT , where most FMCs are site . These results support the hypothesis that crustal thickness is a major factor in accounting for the NS / FS discrepancy in female horse volcanism . "
While interesting , there are plenty more questions to be answer , include why the SPA basin does n’t contain as much basalt as is expected . These dubiousness will hopefully be answered as scientist study the sample further , and garner more material from both side of the Moon .
The study is put out inThe Astrophysical Journal Letters .
