Recently, in a new study published in the journal Science, scientists found rare materials in the lunar samples brought back by China's Chang'e 5, which through a focused beam of charged particles, so that different mineral phases in the rock ejected material, scientists observed that chang'e 5 brought back a variety of mineral crystals in the lunar samples presented a narrow needle-like, diabase structure, representing the process of rapid condensation crystallization of magma.
The analysis of these materials confirmed through research that lava on the lunar surface was still flowing 1.97 billion years ago, extending the previously known lunar geological life by about 1 billion years.
This discovery broke through the understanding of scientists, because before, the scientific community believed that the moon did not have enough internal heat to continue volcanic eruption activity after 2.5 billion years of formation, and why was there still lava flowing on the lunar surface 1.9 billion years ago, where did the internal heat required for these eruptions come from? These mysteries also need further research by scientists to solve.
As we all know, the U.S. Apollo program has landed on the moon 6 times, why has the United States not found that the moon still had lava flow 1.9 billion years ago? Many netizens began to question that the lunar samples brought back by the United States were fake.
In fact, it is not, this is because the United States and the United States landing position are in the middle and low latitude of the moon sea, the so-called moon sea, refers to the moon surface of the relatively low-lying plain, with the naked eye to look at the moon some dark patches, these large areas of dark areas are called the moon sea. The total area of the lunar sea accounts for about 25% of the total lunar surface, and there are 22 determined lunar seas, of which 19 are on the earth side, including rainy sea, quiet sea, Chenghai sea, rich sea, cloud sea and so on. There is also an area on the far side of the moon called the "Moscow Sea", which was discovered from photos of the far side of the moon transmitted from the unmanned probe "Luna 3" launched by the Soviet Union. The largest lunar sea is the Storm Ocean, which covers an area of about 5 million square kilometers, which is larger than half of China.
The moon is often hit by comets, asteroids and other small bodies, if the impact of small bodies is not large, it will only knock the lunar surface into potholes, uneven height; if there is a larger celestial impact, it will cause a large number of eruptions of magma in the moon, these magma cover the depression left after the impact, lava cooling, it will form a large area of "lunar sea" on the lunar surface.
In the late 1960s and 1970s, the United States brought back 382 kilograms of lunar material on six lunar missions, while the former Soviet Union brought back 300 grams on three lunar missions. The landing sites in the United States are all in the middle and low latitudes of the lunar sea, and the formation age is concentrated in 4.2-3.2 billion years ago (and some may have formed in the Copernicus less than 1 billion years ago). The time corresponding to the lunar historical events outside this range is all extrapolated from this anchor point with reference to other observations (mainly impact crater statistics). But after the Apollo program, scientists said the moon's Munds Rumke volcano may have erupted 1.3 billion years ago, with "the youngest lunar sea basalt on the moon." This "young" rock from the moon has never been sampled or studied. Located next to the Lunar Sea "Storm Ocean", Mons Rumk is a 70 km wide complex of volcanic domes surrounded by more than 20 circular lava domes. At an altitude of about 1100 meters, it is higher than the vast, smooth lunar sea, which is also known as the "storm ocean".
Half of the mons-rumke region has craters and recent lava flows, which has scientists wondering why one part of the moon is younger than the other, and 2 billion years apart. Volcanic sediments in this region may be key to understanding the origin and evolution of the moon.
That's why Chang'e-5 chose to land on Mount Mons Rumk, which has a completely different lunar sample from the United States and the Soviet Union.
In this study, we can also see this difference, the Chinese team of scientists on the lunar rock element distribution of the sweep, showing potassium-rich feldspar, as well as apatite, white phosphorite and other rare earth-rich phosphate, which is similar to the previous understanding of the composition of the Klip rock (KREEP was first found in the Apollo 12 sample), and because it is an all-crystal rock, it means that the sampling of fresh KREEEP rock, can determine the magmatic differentiation crystallization cause of this rock. For comparison, the samples collected by Apollo and the Soviet Union only collected KREEP-quality glass and fused breccia, which were modified by impact and were not fresh enough.
In fact, through the analysis of the Chang'e-5 lunar sample, the authenticity of the Apollo lunar landing was further confirmed, and before the Chinese Chang'e-5 lunar sample, the corresponding time of the lunar historical events was all based on the US-Soviet sample as the anchor point, referring to other observations (mainly impact crater statistics) extrapolated. This is equivalent to the "fossil record" formed in a small period of time in only a very limited part of the moon, but it is used to calibrate the entire 4.5 billion years of the moon's history, and even to extrapolate to other terrestrial planets.
This obviously means that our understanding of the Moon is extremely incomplete, both in space and time. The lunar samples brought back by Chang'e 5 have played a good supplementary role, which is a good supplement for us to restore the history of the moon, truly understand the moon, understand the Earth-Moon system, and even understand the past of the entire solar system. It is of great significance.
Before Chang'e 5, China's research on the moon relied heavily on a 1-gram lunar rock donated by the United States, a small stone contained in plexiglass. The Americans made a magnifying glass on it, which looked as big as a thumb, but was actually only the size of a soybean.
This 1 gram sample is extremely precious. Scientists can only use a maximum of 0.5 grams, and the remaining 0.5 grams must be saved. It took 3 to 4 months to use the 0.5 grams of lunar soil samples, and the Chinese scientists completed all the analytical tests and published 14 scientific papers.
And Chang'e 5 brought back 1731 grams of lunar samples, these samples for China's future exploration, landing, development of the moon has great significance, from 1 gram to 1731 grams, 43 years, witness china's aerospace industry leapfrog development, China is constantly moving towards the stars and the sea of blondes.