Chinese Scientists: Lunar farside volcanism 2.8 billion years ago from Chang’e-6 basalts

On the morning of June 2, 2024, Chang'e 6 successfully landed in the pre-selected landing area of ​​the South Pole-Aitken Basin on the far side of the moon. The lander collected samples of rock and regolith, loaded them into an ascent vehicle, and launched them into orbit for collection. On June 25, the Chang'e 6 returner with collected 1935.3 grams of samples accurately landed in the designated area of ​​Siziwang Banner, Inner Mongolia, China.

Chang’e-6 launched from the coastal Wenchang spaceport on a Long March 5 rocket on May 4, 2024. The four-part spacecraft — a service module, lander, re-entry capsule, and ascent vehicle — entered lunar orbit several days later. On June 2, the lander touched down on the lunar surface at Apollo Basin, an impact crater within the larger South Pole-Aitken Basin.

The lander drilled down into the Moon, then used a robotic arm to collect rock and soil. It transferred the sample to an ascent vehicle that took off from the Moon two days later and went on to dock with the service module in orbit. There, the sample was transferred again into a re-entry capsule, and the service module eventually made its way back to Earth. The capsule touch down in China on June 26, 2024.

Chang’e-6 is part of the broader Chang’e lunar exploration project of China, named after a Chinese goddess of the Moon. It's the first to bring back samples from the far side of the Moon.

Samples was initially made available to Chinese institutions and other cooperating international institutions, then eventually opened up for international applications.

The first research results of Chang'e-6 lunar samples were released on November 15, revealing the history of volcanic activity on the back of the moon and providing a key scientific basis for better research on lunar evolution. The papers were published online in the international academic journals Nature and Science.

The Chang'e-6 mission completed the feat of sampling from the far side of the moon for the first time, bringing back 1935.3 grams of precious samples, providing a rare opportunity to carry out research related to the far side of the moon. Prior to this, all lunar samples obtained by humans were from the front side of the moon, and the knowledge of the far side of the moon was mainly based on remote sensing research.

What new discoveries have scientists made in Chang'e-6 lunar samples?

Academician Li Xianhua and researcher Li Qiuli of the Institute of Geology and Geophysics of the Chinese Academy of Sciences and a team from the National Astronomical Observatories of China separated 108 basalt cuttings larger than 300 microns from 5 grams of lunar samples, and the dating results showed that the Chang'e-6 landing site had volcanic activity 28 (28.07±0.03) billion years ago.

One of the high-alumina basalt rock chips revealed volcanic activity on the far side of the Moon 4.2 billion years ago from a source zone rich in Cripps. This suggests that volcanic activity on the far side of the Moon has lasted for at least 1.4 billion years, and that the mantle source region has undergone a transition from Cripp material enrichment to loss.

A team led by Xu Yigang, academician and senior engineer Zhang Le of the Guangzhou Institute of Geochemistry of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, confirmed that the Chang'e-6 low-titanium basalt was formed by a volcanic eruption 2.83 billion years ago. Their study also showed that in addition to the influence of the thickness of the lunar crust, the material composition of the lunar mantle source area is also an important controlling factor, which refreshes the traditional understanding.

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