Important information about the moon’s past, especially its far side, has been uncovered by recent results from materials recovered by China’s Chang’e 6 mission.
The Chang’e 6 mission, which weighed 4 pounds and 4.29 ounces (1,935.3 grammes), launched in early May 2024, touched down in the massive South Pole-Aitken (SPA), and returned to Earth in late June with the first samples from the moon’s far side.
An established model of the moon as a global liquid magma ocean in the early stages of its formation, which most likely lasted tens to hundreds of millions of years, is supported by new research from the Chinese Academy of Geological Sciences that was published in the journal Science.
