A sample from the far side of the Moon
By Zexian Cui et al, Science. Summary: Between 1969 and 1976, the Apollo and Luna missions collected samples from the ...near side of the Moon—the one that always faces Earth. Observations from lunar orbit have shown that the far side has very different geology from the near side, for unknown reasons. ...In June 2024, the Chang’e-6 spacecraft landed within an impact basin on the far side of the Moon, collected samples, then brought them back to Earth. In a new Science paper , researchers present early results from analyses of a Chang’e-6 sample, which contains volcanic basalt...the volcanic eruption occurred 2.8 billion years ago.... Paper at https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.adt1093 .