INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
Tiny green glass beads collected by Chinas Change-5 lunar mission are providing scientists with unprecedented insights into the moons
hidden interior, according to Chinese and Australian researchers on Monday.Unlike typical lunar glass formed by surface impacts, these beads
contain unusually high levels of magnesium, which indicates a potentially deeper origin, said a press release from Australias Curtin
University."These high-magnesium glass beads may have formed when an asteroid smashed into rocks that originated from the mantle deep within
the moon," said Alexander Nemchin of Curtins School of Earth and Planetary Sciences."This is exciting, because weve never sampled the mantle
directly before: the tiny glass beads offer us a glimpse of the moons hidden interior," said Nemchin, the co-author of the joint study
published in Science Advances.Co-author Tim Johnson, a colleague of Nemchin, noted that the composition of the beads is significantly
different from previously studied lunar materials, suggesting they may have emerged during the formation of the Imbrium Basin – a massive
impact crater formed over 3 billion years ago."Remote sensing has shown the area around the basins edge contains the kind of minerals that
match the glass bead chemistry," Johnson said, adding if these samples are indeed from the mantle, it confirms that giant impacts can bring
deep, otherwise inaccessible material to the surface – a major breakthrough in understanding the moons geological evolution.Lead author
Wang Xiaolei from Chinas Nanjing University said the discovery could shape future moon missions.Uncovering the moons interior structure
helps us compare it with Earth and other planets, and better plan robotic or crewed exploration, Wang said.
