Rover gives insight into moon’s history
Print Edition
THE moon’s geological history is more complex than previously thought, preliminary results from China’s first lunar rover Yutu have suggested.
Ground-penetrating radar measurements taken by Yutu, also known as Jade Rabbit, revealed at least nine subsurface layers beneath its landing site, indicating that multiple geologic processes have taken place there.
“We have for the first time detected multiple subsurface layers (on the moon),” said lead author Xiao Long, a professor at China University of Geosciences in Wuhan, attributing them to ancient lava flows, and the weathering of rocks and boulders into regolith, or loose layers of dust, over the past 3.3 billion years or so.
One of the most interesting findings is a layer at depths of 140 to 240 meters, Xiao said.
“We think this layer is probably pyroclastic rocks that formed during volcanic eruptions,” he said.
“It reveals the diversity of volcanic activity, but what’s more important is that it shows there are plenty of volatile contents inside the moon.”
Yutu is part of China’s Chang’e-3 mission, which delivered the rover and a stationary lander to the lunar surface in December 2013, marking the first moon landing since the Soviet Union’s Luna 24 mission in 1976.
It touched down on the northern Mare Imbrium, or Sea of Rains, a region not directly sampled before and far from the United States Apollo and Luna landings sites.
Yutu traveled 114m before coming to a halt about 20m southwest of the landing site due to mechanical problems. As a result, it surveyed only a small area — using two radar antennas capable of penetrating the moon’s crust to depths of about 400m — but the data were enough to show its landing site is compositionally distinct from previous moon-landing sites, the researchers said.
“We have gained a general scientific understanding of the moon thanks to these missions. But if we want a comprehensive understanding of the moon’s geological structure, material composition and formation, as well as its evolution, a large number of exploration events are still needed,” he said.
“And considering the high cost of such missions, international cooperation is a must,” he said.
The findings were published in the US journal Science.
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