The chang'e-4 probe and the yutu-2 rover, which have spent many days and nights on the moon, have brought us a lot of good news. Many of these good news are the first feats of human beings. Recently, the publication of a paper has made the new discovery of chang'e-4 on the back of the moon a new history.
According to the paper published in the journal Nature, Chinese scientists inferred that the low calcium pyroxene and olivine minerals on the lunar surface may have originated from the lunar mantle based on the initial observation results of the visible near infrared imaging spectrometer (vins) on chang'e-4.
This is the first preliminary evidence of the mantle source material on the back of the moon. The news from chang'e-4 will be enough to change people's understanding of the moon. Experts from many countries can't sit still and send congratulations one after another.
Previously, NASA and the Soviet Union's lunar exploration programs focused on the near side of the moon. Due to the tidal lock, the near side of the moon is less impacted by meteorites, and the lack of powerful meteorite impact, the material in the lunar mantle layer will not be ejected to the lunar surface, and the exploration of the lunar mantle can not be carried out naturally. Therefore, for a long time, the research on the lunar mantle is still in the stage of theoretical conjecture .
The Antarctica aitoken basin of the moon where chang'e-4 landed is the largest, deepest and oldest crater on the moon. The observation data of the lunar internal gravity field from NASA's prior Grail (gravity retrospective and internal structure laboratory) program show that the meteorite impact in the Antarctica aitoken basin successfully penetrated the lunar crust and part of the upper mantle.