Samples collected by the Chinese mission bring the timeline of the new moon

The first samples were collected from the moon during the mission Apollo 11 and visit by Neil Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin and Jim Lovell in July 1969. Other samples were also taken in 1976. According to the radiometric process that determined their age, the samples were respectively more than three billion years (1969) and less than one billion years (1976) – ages Actual sampling areas.

This poses a problem: despite the samples that laid the foundations for the method of calculating the craters (including unintended areas such as the hidden face of the moon), and thus determining the age of the entire satellite, a space of countless two billion years corresponds to half of the geological timeline of the Moon.

Then the mission came Chang’E-5, which aims to scour the moon’s surface for smaller craters — about 2 billion years old or less — to narrow the findings. In December 2020, the probe, which was named after him, was launched on the mission’s land in the area known as “”Oceanus Porcellarum(“Ocean of Storms”, in direct translation), from which samples dated 2.03 billion years were taken.

After returning the samples and extensive analysis, a new research model was created, narrowing this gap from two billion years to a few hundred million – 200 million, to be exact.

This has the effect, in practice, that the task Chang’E-5 It will become the primary reference point when future studies need to look at the lunar timeline, now with more up-to-date information.

The full study is now available in the scientific journal natural astronomyAfter peer review.

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