There鈥檚 still a lot to learn about our closest neighbour. China鈥檚 Yutu moon rover has discovered a new kind of rock on the lunar surface. The find suggests the moon鈥檚 make-up is more diverse than previously thought, and will help interpret future satellite-based observations.
China鈥檚 Chang鈥檈 3 lander mission touched down on the moon in December 2013 and released the Yutu rover to explore the edge of a nearby crater, which was nicknamed 鈥淧urple Palace鈥� at the time but is now formally known as Zi Wei.
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The landing site was in the Mare Imbrium, a large area on the moon鈥檚 northern hemisphere thought to have been formed around 3 billion years ago when lava flooded a giant crater. The more recent impact that formed the Zi Wei crater in the Mare Imbrium exposed the ancient basalt rock that formed when the lava cooled, so sampling here allowed Yutu to look deep back in time.
of Shandong University in Weihai, China, and his colleagues analysed data the rover collected on the basalt and found that concentrations of minerals including iron oxide, calcium oxide and titanium dioxide differ from those seen in the samples gathered by the Apollo astronauts and the Russian Luna probes in the 1970s.
That suggests Yutu had struck a new kind of moon rock, says Ling. 鈥淚t is clear that these newly characterised basalts reflect a more diverse moon than initially realised at the time of the Apollo and Luna missions.鈥�
Ling expects to make further discoveries as the rover continues to analyse its surroundings, he says. 鈥淵utu is still acquiring data, although it cannot move around now.鈥� The Chang鈥檈 3 lander is also still operational, scanning the lunar surface and using the only telescope on the moon to give us unique views of the cosmos.
Journal reference: Nature Communications, DOI:
Image credit: Chinese Lunar Exploration Program (CLEP)/ China National Space Administration (CNSA)
