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The first rover located on the other side of the moon may have discovered the first samples of the moon's mantle, released from the moon's interior by an ancient and giant cosmic impact, reveals a new study .
These findings suggest that the rover, the Chinese Yutu-2, might someday solve the mystery of how the moon formed and evolved.
Previous research has suggested that, like other internal rock bodies in the solar system, the moon was covered with an ocean of magma up to hundreds of miles deep when it was newly formed and still hot since its inception. As this magma cooled and solidified in the ocean, more dense minerals rich in iron and magnesium, such as olivine, would have crystallized at its base, while lighter minerals rich in silicon and aluminum , such as plagioclase, would have floated to the surface, which could explain why large parts of the moon's crust are now 98% plagioclase.
Related: China on the moon! A history of Chinese lunar missions in pictures
However, this dominant pattern of formation and evolution of the moon is the subject of intense debate. Indeed, it is not certain that the ocean of lunar magma has the right combination of chemical and physical characteristics allowing its minerals to separate, as the model suggests.
One of the ways to solve the mystery of the first days of the moon is to analyze his coat – the rocky region under the crust of the moon but above its core – about which much remains unknown. From NASA Apollo Missions and the Soviet Union Luna probes, who each landed near the moon, have all failed to return samples of the lunar mantle. (The rotation of the Earth and the Moon leads the Earth to see only one side of the Moon, nicknamed its near face.)
Instead of launching probes to drill into the moon in order to retrieve lunar mantle samples, scientists have long suggested leaving cosmic impacts on the moon to do the dirty work of digging, said the study's researchers. . For example, on the other side of the moon, an ancient, gigantic collision has dug a 1500-mile crater known as the South-Aitken Pole.
"The very big craters of impact – for example, the South-Aitken Pole Basin – can potentially penetrate through the crust and taste the lunar mantle, "said Bin Space, co-author of the study, a specialist in planetary sciences at the Key Laboratory of Lunar Exploration and in the US. Deep Space in Beijing, at Space.com.
Now, using the Yutu-2 rover, Chinese scientists have revealed what might be the first details of the lunar mantle.
In January, the LG Chang & # 39; e 4 Yutu-2 deployed on the relatively smooth soil of the Von Kármán crater (186 km) wide (115 km) in the South-Pole-Aitken basin. The rover discovered minerals that seemed very different from the typical lunar surface materials, which, according to the researchers, would probably have been extracted from the subsoil of the South Pole-Aitken basin by the impact that created the crater Finsen, broad 45 km (72 km).
The analysis of the wavelengths of the light reflected by these minerals revealed the presence of olivine and low calcium pyroxene. This is consistent with the long-standing predictions about the composition of the upper lunar mantle and could bolster the dominant pattern of moon formation and evolution with an ocean of refreshing magma, scientists noted.
"The ultimate goal is to decipher the mystery of the composition of the lunar mantle," said Liu.
Detailed scientists their discoveries in the May 16 edition of the journal Nature.
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