China’s Chang’e-6 mission has brought back samples from the moon’s far side, sparking new theories about its interior composition. Researchers analyzed the lunar rocks and found that the far side is potentially drier than the near side. This discovery could shed light on how the moon formed and evolved over billions of years.
Scientists have long been fascinated by the differences between the moon’s near and far sides. The far side has more craters, a thicker crust, and less maria than the near side. Now, researchers believe that these surface features may be linked to the amount of water present in the moon’s interior.
Using samples from Chang’e-6, Chinese scientists found that the far side contains much less water than initially thought. The discovery was made by analyzing olivine crystals, which formed as ancient magma cooled and preserved information about the moon’s mantle composition.
The results are striking, with the amount of water present in the far side being 200 times lower than previously estimated for the near side. This raises questions about how the impact that created the South Pole-Aitken basin affected the distribution of water on the moon.
Some researchers propose that the impact may have stripped water from the far side and deposited it on the near side. Others suggest that the basalts analyzed in the study come from a deeper, drier part of the lunar mantle.
Further samples from future lunar missions will be necessary to confirm these findings and determine if the interior of the moon’s far side is uniformly dry or varies across the hemisphere.
Source: https://www.nytimes.com/2025/04/09/science/moon-far-side-water-china.html