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First look by the Yutu-2 rover at the deep subsurface structure at the lunar farside

Author

Listed:
  • Jialong Lai

    (Macau University of Science and Technology
    Jiangxi University of Science and Technology)

  • Yi Xu

    (Macau University of Science and Technology)

  • Roberto Bugiolacchi

    (Macau University of Science and Technology
    University College London, Earth Sciences)

  • Xu Meng

    (Macau University of Science and Technology
    Guangzhou University)

  • Long Xiao

    (Macau University of Science and Technology
    China University of Geosciences)

  • Minggang Xie

    (Macau University of Science and Technology
    Guilin University of Technology)

  • Bin Liu

    (Chinese Academy of Science)

  • Kaichang Di

    (Chinese Academy of Science)

  • Xiaoping Zhang

    (Macau University of Science and Technology)

  • Bin Zhou

    (Chinese Academy of Sceience
    Chinese Academy of Science)

  • Shaoxiang Shen

    (Chinese Academy of Sceience
    Chinese Academy of Science)

  • Luyuan Xu

    (Macau University of Science and Technology)

Abstract

The unequal distribution of volcanic products between the Earth-facing lunar side and the farside is the result of a complex thermal history. To help unravel the dichotomy, for the first time a lunar landing mission (Chang’e-4, CE-4) has targeted the Moon’s farside landing on the floor of Von Kármán crater (VK) inside the South Pole-Aitken (SPA). We present the first deep subsurface stratigraphic structure based on data collected by the ground-penetrating radar (GPR) onboard the Yutu-2 rover during the initial nine months exploration phase. The radargram reveals several strata interfaces beneath the surveying path: buried ejecta is overlaid by at least four layers of distinct lava flows that probably occurred during the Imbrium Epoch, with thicknesses ranging from 12 m up to about 100 m, providing direct evidence of multiple lava-infilling events that occurred within the VK crater. The average loss tangent of mare basalts is estimated at 0.0040-0.0061.

Suggested Citation

  • Jialong Lai & Yi Xu & Roberto Bugiolacchi & Xu Meng & Long Xiao & Minggang Xie & Bin Liu & Kaichang Di & Xiaoping Zhang & Bin Zhou & Shaoxiang Shen & Luyuan Xu, 2020. "First look by the Yutu-2 rover at the deep subsurface structure at the lunar farside," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 11(1), pages 1-9, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:nat:natcom:v:11:y:2020:i:1:d:10.1038_s41467-020-17262-w
    DOI: 10.1038/s41467-020-17262-w
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