A Chinese probe provides new maps of the dark side of the moon
Scientists were able to visualize elevated parts of the dark side of the moon's surface for the first time through data from the Chinese Chang'e 4 probe, according to the Live Science 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 taking stunning panoramic images of the moon's surface.
The dark side of the Moon never faces Earth and is relatively unexplored. Professor at the Chinese Space Science Organization, Yang Yuang, 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 development in the future.
The probe enabled scientists to visualize the layer of structures that make up 1,000 feet (300 meters) of the moon's surface in finer detail than ever before.
Their results, published August 7 in the journal Geophysical Research, revealed billions of years of the Moon's hidden history.
The Yutu 2 rover, which traveled on board 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 vehicle to send radio signals deep into the moon's surface.
The Live Science website quoted him as saying that scientists can use those “echoes” or radio waves to create a map under the surface of the moon.
In 2020, scientists used this technology to map the surface of the moon, but they have not delved deeper yet.
Feng explained that this new data indicates that 130 feet of the moon's surface consists of multiple layers of dust, soil, and broken rocks, and these materials were hidden inside a crater formed when a large object collided with the moon.
Scientists believe our moon formed 4.51 billion years ago, not long after the solar system itself formed, when a Mars-sized object collided with Earth and cut off part of our planet.
The mission of the Chang'e-4 rover on the moon's surface has not yet ended, and scientists hope that it will provide insight into various geological formations in the future.
Source: websites