Scientists Uncover Billions of Years’ Worth of Secrets on the Moon
Scientists have made a groundbreaking discovery, revealing billions of years’ worth of hidden secrets buried beneath the moon’s surface. Thanks to China’s space program and their Chang’e-4 lander, we are beginning to unravel the mysteries of our celestial companion.
In 2018, the Chang’e-4 lander, belonging to the Chinese National Space Administration (CNSA), became the first spacecraft to successfully explore the far side of the moon. Since then, it has been capturing extraordinary images of impact craters and extracting mineral samples, providing unprecedented insights into the moon’s composition.
The Chang’e-4’s findings were recently published in the Journal of Geophysical Research: Planets, inviting the world to dive deep into the moon’s history. According to the study, the top 130 feet (40m) of the lunar surface is composed of layers of dust, soil, and broken rocks. Hidden within these layers lies evidence of a crater formed by a massive object colliding with the moon.
Dr. Jianqing Feng, an astrogeological researcher at the Planetary Science Institute in Arizona, co-led the analysis and discovered five distinct layers of lunar lava. These layers were created billions of years ago and spread across the moon’s landscape.
Experts believe that the moon formed approximately 4.51 billion years ago when a Mars-sized object crashed into Earth, causing a chunk of our planet to break off. Over the next 200 million years, the moon encountered numerous impacts from space debris, resulting in cracks on its surface. Similar to Earth, the moon’s mantle contained pockets of molten magma that seeped into these cracks due to volcanic eruptions.
However, the data from Chang’e-4 revealed that the closer the volcanic rock was to the moon’s surface, the thinner it became. “Its energy became weak over time,” explained Dr. Feng. This suggests that the moon gradually cooled down and entered a geologically dormant state between one billion and 100 million years ago.
Despite the moon’s considered geological deadness, Dr. Feng and his co-authors propose the possibility of buried magma deep within the lunar surface. The Chang’e-4 mission is far from over, and Dr. Feng and his team hope to continue their groundbreaking mapping of the moon in the future.
This remarkable discovery sheds light on the moon’s history and contributes to our understanding of the formation and evolution of celestial bodies. The secrets unearthed from beneath the moon’s surface will undoubtedly fuel further scientific inquiries and pave the way for future lunar missions.
As the Chang’e-4 mission continues to unravel the moon’s mysteries, scientists and space enthusiasts eagerly anticipate further revelations that may reshape our perception of the moon and its role in our universe.