Chang’e-6 lunar samples reveal new clues to Moon’s two faces

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Chang’e-6 lunar samples reveal new clues to Moon’s two faces

19.08.26

Chang’e-6 lunar samples reveal new clues to Moon’s two faces

Analysis of material from the Moon’s far side suggests an ancient giant impact reshaped its crust and upper mantle, challenging a purely uniform model of lunar evolution⁠

Photo source: mikiell / iStock

Chinese scientists have uncovered new evidence that could help explain why the Moon's near and far sides look so different, using lunar soil returned by the Chang’e-6 mission from the previously unexplored far side, as reported by Global Times, a TV BRICS partner.

Researchers from the Institute of Geology at the Chinese Academy of Geological Sciences analysed feldspathic impact-melt rocks contained in the returned samples. Their findings indicate that an ancient, enormous impact may have continued to reshape the Moon's crust and upper mantle long after its primordial magma ocean had solidified.

The discovery provides a new perspective on one of lunar science's enduring questions: why the side facing Earth contains extensive dark volcanic plains, while the far side is dominated by brighter, heavily cratered highlands.

Scientists have traditionally relied on the lunar magma ocean model to explain how the Moon's internal structure and chemical composition developed. Under this model, the Moon was once largely covered by a molten ocean that gradually cooled, allowing different minerals and chemical components to separate and form distinct reservoirs.

But much of the evidence behind this model came from samples collected from the Moon's near side. The lack of comparable material from the far side has made it difficult to determine whether the same evolutionary processes operated uniformly across the Moon.

Chang’e-6 changed that picture by bringing the first samples collected from the lunar far side back to Earth.

The Chinese research team used an independently developed ion-probe system to conduct high-precision chemical and isotopic measurements of the material. The analysis was designed to test existing ideas about lunar formation while investigating how major impacts affected the Moon's crust and mantle.

The results point towards the South Pole-Aitken Basin, one of the largest and oldest known impact structures in the solar system, as a possible key to the Moon's contrasting hemispheres.

Researchers found evidence that the enormous impact associated with the basin continued to influence the lunar crust and upper mantle after the magma ocean had already cooled and solidified.

Such an event could have substantially altered the distribution and composition of material across parts of the far side, helping to explain why its geological characteristics differ so sharply from those of the near side.

The Chang’e-6 samples provide scientists with an unprecedented opportunity to compare far-side material with the extensive collection of near-side samples accumulated during earlier lunar missions.