Experts discover signs of volcanic activity on mysterious part of the Moon

Soil samples brought back from the far side of the Moon have unveiled a history of volcanic activity that spans billions of years. The samples were retrieved by the Chinese mission Chang’e-6, which collected nearly two kilogrammes of lunar soil and brought it back to Earth in a capsule in June.

The findings, which were published in the Nature and Science journals last week, also revealed a "surprisingly young" eruption occurred some 2.83 billion years ago.

It is something which has not been found on the near side of the Moon, also known as the 'dark' side of the Moon, because we don't see it as the Moon is tidally locked to Earth, meaning the same side always faces us. The far side is very different in its geology and has only been lightly explored, so scientists are thrilled about the samples.

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"This is an incredibly exciting study," says Qiu-Li Li, a researcher at the Chinese Academy of Sciences in Beijing and a co-author of the Nature paper.

“We can tell the story for a long history of volcanism and different mantle sources on the lunar far side. "It is the first geochronology study to come from the Chang’e-6 samples, and will be of immense importance to the lunar and planetary science community."

Chang'e 6 is a lunar lander and sample return mission that landed on the far side of the Moon within the South Pole Aitken Basin and launched on May 3, 2024 and returned its samples on June 25.

A scoop and drill were used to obtain samples from the surface and two metres below the surface and place them in the ascent vehicle, which was mounted on top of the lander. The ascent vehicle launched from the Moon on June 3, bringing the samples to lunar orbit. There the ascender docked with the Chang'e 6 orbiter-return vehicle on June 6.