The Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) has released the most detailed geological maps of the Moon ever drawn. The Geologic Atlas of the Lunar Globe, a joint effort by more than 100 researchers based on data from China’s lunar exploration program — primarily the Chang’e 1 mission, which surveyed the lunar surface from orbit between 2007 and 2009 — describes 12,341 craters, 81 basins, 17 rock types, and other information about the layers and chronology of the lunar crust. Drawn on a 1:2.5 million scale (25 kilometers corresponds to 1 centimeter on the map), the resolution of the atlas is double that of the US Geological Survey maps drawn in the 1960s and 1970s on a scale of 1 to 5 million. The freely available resource could help in the planning of future expeditions and even in the construction of a lunar research base. Three spacecraft left Earth headed for the Moon this year, and China plans to send a spacecraft to collect rocks from the dark side of the Moon in May (Science Bulletin, August 15, 2022; CAS, April 22, 2024; Nature, April 25, 2024).
ASTRONOMY
Thousands of craters and 17 rock types on the Moon
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