{"id":25671,"date":"2025-04-09T15:00:07","date_gmt":"2025-04-09T15:00:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/medexperts.pro\/?p=25671"},"modified":"2025-04-09T15:26:52","modified_gmt":"2025-04-09T15:26:52","slug":"chinese-lunar-rocks-suggest-a-thirsty-far-side-of-the-moon","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/medexperts.pro\/?p=25671","title":{"rendered":"Chinese Lunar Rocks Suggest a Thirsty Far Side of the Moon"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Using samples gathered from the Chang\u2019e-6 mission, scientists found that the interior of the moon on the half we never see from Earth might be drier than the near side.<\/p>\n

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The far side of the moon \u2014 the part that always faces away from Earth \u2014 is mysteriously distinct from the near side. It is pockmarked with more craters and has a thicker crust and less maria, or plains where lava once formed.<\/p>\n

Now, scientists say that difference could be more than skin deep.<\/p>\n

Using a lunar sample obtained last year, Chinese researchers believe that the insides of the moon\u2019s far side are potentially drier than its near side. Their discovery, published<\/a> in the journal Nature on Wednesday, could offer a clearer picture of how the pearly orb we admire in our night sky<\/a> formed and evolved over billions of years.<\/p>\n

That the water content within the lunar far and near sides differs seems \u201ccoincidentally consistent\u201d with the variations in the surface features of the moon\u2019s two hemispheres, said Sen Hu, a researcher at the Chinese Academy of Sciences in Beijing and an author of the new result. \u201cIt\u2019s quite intriguing,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

The moon was believed to be \u201cbone dry\u201d until the 1990s, when scientists began to discover hints of water on its surface. Those hints were confirmed when NASA slammed a rocket stage into the lunar south pole in 2009.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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Since then, studies have indicated that there is ice across much of the lunar surface<\/a>. Water has also been found in the mantle, a layer of the moon below the crust and above the core.<\/p>\n

Last June, China became the first nation to return a sample from the moon\u2019s far side<\/a>. Chang\u2019e-6, the sixth in a series of Chinese lunar exploration missions, scooped and drilled more than four pounds of regolith from the South Pole-Aitken basin, the deepest crater on the moon.<\/p>\n

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Using samples gathered from the Chang\u2019e-6 mission, scientists found that the interior of the moon on the half we never see from Earth might be drier than the near side.The far side of the moon \u2014 the part that always faces away from Earth \u2014 is mysteriously distinct from the near side. It is pockmarked with more craters and has a thicker crust and less maria, or plains where lava once formed.Now, scientists say that difference could be more than skin deep.Using a lunar sample obtained last year, Chinese researchers believe that the insides of the moon\u2019s far side are potentially drier than its near side. Their discovery, published in the journal Nature on Wednesday, could offer a clearer picture of how the pearly orb we admire in our night sky formed and evolved over billions of years.That the water content within the lunar far and near sides differs seems \u201ccoincidentally consistent\u201d with the variations in the surface features of the moon\u2019s two hemispheres, said Sen Hu, a researcher at the Chinese Academy of Sciences in Beijing and an author of the new result. \u201cIt\u2019s quite intriguing,\u201d he said.The moon was believed to be \u201cbone dry\u201d until the 1990s, when scientists began to discover hints of water on its surface. Those hints were confirmed when NASA slammed a rocket stage into the lunar south pole in 2009.Since then, studies have indicated that there is ice across much of the lunar surface. Water has also been found in the mantle, a layer of the moon below the crust and above the core.Last June, China became the first nation to return a sample from the moon\u2019s far side. Chang\u2019e-6, the sixth in a series of Chinese lunar exploration missions, scooped and drilled more than four pounds of regolith from the South Pole-Aitken basin, the deepest crater on the moon.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and\u00a0log into\u00a0your Times account, or\u00a0subscribe\u00a0for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber?\u00a0Log in.Want all of The Times?\u00a0Subscribe.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":25673,"comment_status":"close","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[34],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-25671","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-science"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/medexperts.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25671","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/medexperts.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/medexperts.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/medexperts.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/medexperts.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=25671"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/medexperts.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25671\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":25674,"href":"https:\/\/medexperts.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25671\/revisions\/25674"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/medexperts.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/25673"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/medexperts.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=25671"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/medexperts.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=25671"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/medexperts.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=25671"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}