Dust and rock structures.. A Chinese probe provides new maps of the dark side of the moon
A previous news window about the mission of the Chinese "Chang'e-4" probe on the dark side of the moon (Photo: Getty)
Scientists were able to visualize elevated parts of the dark side of the moon's surface for the first time through the data of the Chinese probe, "Chang'e 4", according to the "LiveSense" website.
Since its first landing in 2018, the Chinese "Chang'e 4" probe, the first space mission to land on the dark side of the moon, has begun to take stunning panoramic pictures of the lunar surface.
The dark side of the moon never faces Earth and is relatively unexplored. Professor Yang Yuang, a professor at the Chinese Space Science Organization, had indicated in a previous interview that the far side of the moon has many resources and will enable scientists to understand its formation and evolution in the future.
The probe has enabled scientists to visualize the layer of structures that make up 1,000 feet (300 metres) of the lunar surface in finer detail than ever before.
Their findings, published August 7 in the journal Geophysical Research, reveal billions of years of hidden moon history.
A technology that allows mapping of the lunar surface
The Yutu-2 rover, which traveled aboard the Chang'e-4, was equipped with Lunar Penetrating Radar technology.
The study's lead author Jianqing Feng, an astronomy researcher at the Planetary Science Institute in Tucson, Arizona, explained that this device allows the rover to send radio signals deep into the lunar surface.
He was quoted by LiveSense as saying that scientists can use those "echoes" or radio waves to create a map of the subsurface of the moon.
In 2020, scientists used this technique to map the surface of the moon, but they haven't gone any deeper yet.
Layers of dust and rocks
Feng explained that this new data indicates that 130 feet of the moon's surface consists of multiple layers of dust, soil and broken rock, and these materials were hidden inside a crater formed when a large body collided with the moon.
Scientists believe that our moon was formed 4.51 billion years ago, not long after the formation of the solar system itself, when a Mars-sized object collided with Earth and cut off part of our planet.
The Chang'e-4 mission has not yet ended on the lunar surface, and scientists hope it will provide insight into different geological formations in the future.
Source: websites