Chinese Scientists Link Moon's 2-Sided Split to 4.3-Billion-Year-Old Impact
Updated
Updated · bastillepost.com · Aug 14
Chinese Scientists Link Moon's 2-Sided Split to 4.3-Billion-Year-Old Impact
3 articles · Updated · bastillepost.com · Aug 14
Summary
Chang'e-6 samples from the Moon's far side have yielded new evidence that the near-far side divide was likely triggered by the impact that formed the South Pole-Aitken basin about 4.3 billion years ago.
Chinese researchers reached that conclusion by analyzing impact-melt fragments with China's first homegrown ion probe, which they said can measure isotopes with accuracy of a few parts per ten thousand.
The team said the giant collision churned far-side material and left samples from the South Pole-Aitken basin more radioactive than material from the Moon's more primitive crust.
The finding builds on Chang'e-6's 2024 return of 1,935.3 grams of far-side lunar soil, a mission that gave scientists rare direct material from the basin to test long-running theories about the Moon's stark hemispheric contrast.