Chinese Lunar Lander Confirms Existence Of Magma Ocean On The Moon

A Chinese lunar lander on the Chang’e 6 mission has released information about the Moon that might change our understanding of its history. This information follows research on samples collected from the lunar body’s far side.

The Moon Might Have Once Been A Magma Ocean, As The Chinese Lunar Lander Shows

Originally launched back in May 2024 the Chinese lunar lander on the Chang’e 6 mission landed on the Moon’s South Pole-Aitken (SPA) area. This lander stayed on the Moon, exploring the lunar surface and collecting sample materials, for about two months.

The lunar lander returned to Earth in late June with over 4 pounds of samples from the Moon’s far side. Examination of these samples from the Moon’s far side by the Chinese Academy of Geological Sciences reveals that the Moon might have once been a liquid Magma ocean millions of years ago.

These samples from the Moon’s far side bear some similarity in their composition to the low-titanium basalts on the Moon’s near side collected during the NASA Apollo mission. However, there are still some differences in the composition of the materials collected by the Chinese lunar lander and the NASA Apollo mission.

The new samples from the Chang’e mission have a lower density in comparison with the samples from the Moon’s near side. Unlike the samples from the Moon’s near side, the samples from the far side are more porous and have a different ratio of certain Uranium and Lead isotopes.

According to the research on these new samples, this change in the composition of rocks on the far side of the Moon in comparison to those on the near side is a result of gigantic impact. This impact might be from an asteroid that might have hit the Moon, hence forming the 1600-mile SPA basin where the Chang’e 6 mission landed.

An Asteroid Might Have Altered The Composition Of Rocks On The Moon’s Far Side

The research links the distinct differences in samples collected from the Moon’s far side in comparison with those from the left side to the effects of an asteroid. According to the Chinese research team, the impact of an asteroid on the Moon’s far left side might have altered the rocks found on that side.

The effects of the asteroid crashing on the Moon’s far side might have taken time to clear. For a while, the Moon’s far side might have been a magma ocean as the effect of the asteroid lingered, hence changing the composition of rocks in this region.
Since the Moon is tidally locked to the Earth, we only get to see its near side. More research needs to be conducted to establish a solid understanding of our Moon.