Hey space fans! 🛸 A fresh study by Chinese scientists on lunar rocks from the Chang'e-6 mission has dropped some cosmic surprises. Published in Nature Communications, this research digs into samples from the moon’s far side and finds that the lunar mantle there is way drier, more barren, and in a more 'reduced' state than what we see on the near side.
So what does 'reduced' mean? In simple terms, elements in a reduced state have super low oxidation, hinting the moon’s far side could be made of more primitive material or might have been altered by a massive impact long ago.
Yang Wei from the Chinese Academy of Sciences explains, "The redox state of a planet is a key indicator for understanding its internal processes and surface habitability. At least these results prove that hundreds of kilometers deep, the near and far sides of the moon are still different. This is our new discovery." 💥
Why does this matter? These findings rewrite our playbook on lunar evolution and open new questions about how the moon formed and changed over billions of years. 🌙✨
Get ready to look up at the night sky with fresh eyes—you never know what secrets are hiding just beyond our view! 🚀
Reference(s):
New discovery: China's lunar samples deepen understanding of the moon
cgtn.com
