News Planetary Science

A first look at rocks from the lunar farside create a volcanic mystery

Rocks returned by China’s Chang’e-6 mission are just 2.8 billion years old

A shiny robotic lunar lander sits on a gray surface with a black background.

The Chinese Chang’e-6 lander, shown, gathered samples from the farside of the moon in early June.

CNSA

By Lisa Grossman

The first samples from the farside of the moon contain signs of surprising volcanic activity near the lunar south pole.

Two separate analyses of lunar rocks brought to Earth by China’s Chang’e-6 spacecraft show the rocks formed from cooling magma relatively recently, about 2.8