Deciphering the Moon via Unusual Basaltic Data Beamed by a Jade Rabbit

Summary: Unusual basaltic data beamed by Chinese moon rover Yutu ("Jade Rabbit") after an Imbrium Basin landing Dec. 14, 2013, aids in deciphering the moon.

China's Chang'e 3 mission soft lands Yutu ("Jade Rabbit"), a moon rover that quickly locates unusual basaltic rocks near CE-3 landing site: "Jade Rabbit Hops on the Moon, after Cui Bai": Mike Licht (Mike Licht, NotionsCapital.com), CC BY 2.0, via Flickr

Unusual basaltic data beamed by China’s moon rover, Yutu (“Jade Rabbit”), after a soft landing in the basalt-riddled Imbrium Basin on Dec. 14, 2013, is aiding in deciphering the moon through glimpses of late-stage volcanism on Earth’s moon.

The ground truth that emerges from Yutu’s data is a distinct mineral signature for basaltic rocks that connects with late-stage volcanic activity on the moon. Basaltic ilmenite samples in Zi Wei crater, near the rover’s landing site in the moon’s northern hemisphere, register unusual, intermediate concentrations of titanium. The levels differ from the very high and very low extremes measured in lunar samples collected by Apollo and Luna missions in the 1970s. As a late crystallizer, ilmenite is associated with more recent, rather than earlier, stages of volcanic activity.

Understanding lunar volcanism helps scientists in deciphering the moon within the context of early formation of the Earth and its only natural satellite. Volcanic activity coughs up deep-down materials that form at different stages. Profiling the moon’s composition yields insights into its still mysterious formation. Composite materials came from somewhere to form the moon. Identifying the moon’s mineral assemblage may indicate the source in the solar system. For example, the Giant Impact Hypothesis, a leading scenario for the moon’s origins, suggests the formation of the moon from a collision about 4.5 billion years ago between Early Earth and Theia, a Mars-sized astronomical body. The hypothesis awaits disproving or proving through such evidence as similar mineral signatures.

As part of China’s Chang’e 3 mission,Yutu collects its unusual basaltic data from four locations within Zi Wei crater. The unusual results support findings by remote sensings, the only source for lunar surface studies since the ending of NASA’s Apollo program in 1972 and of the former Soviet Union’s Luna programme in 1976. Yutu’s efforts toward deciphering the moon represent the first onsite exploration of the lunar surface in over 37 years.

Zi Wei crater’s location within Mare Imbrium (Imbrium Basin) is an ideal region for analyzing prolific volcanism. Top lava flows from the Eratosthenian period of 3,200 million to 1,100 million years ago at Imbrium’s surface have an interpreted length of 745.6 miles (1,200 kilometers) and thickness of 32.8 to 196.85 feet (10 to 60 meters).

Seventeen co-authors of a study of Yutu’s data published online Dec. 22, 2015, in Nature Communications describe the Chang’e 3 landing site’s ideal location for deciphering the Moon: “Serial eruptions flooded the Imbrium basin from ~3.5Ga to ~2Ga, making this region of great scientific value for the detection of lava variations during extended volcanic activity.”

The region’s relative youthfulness, of around 2.96 billion years, stated geologically as 2.96Ga (gigayears or billions of years), and its confirmed intermediate titanium concentrations yield valuable data for deciphering the moon as a significant astronomical body in the solar system.

Seventeen co-authors, representing China’s Shandong University, China University of Geosciences, Chinese Academy of Sciences, and Washington University in St. Louis, conclude from data beamed by a Jade Rabbit that “The chemical and mineralogical information of the CE-3 landing site provides new ground truth for some of the youngest volcanism on the Moon.”

view of the Chang'e 3 lander (large arrow) and Yutu rover (small arrow): NASA Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter Camera Narrow Angle Camera, Public Domain, via Wikimedia Commons

Acknowledgment

My special thanks to talented artists and photographers/concerned organizations who make their fine images available on the internet.

Image credits:

Jade Rabbit (Cui Bai portrait and moon rover): Mike Licht (Mike Licht, NotionsCapital.com), CC BY 2.0, via Flickr @ www.flickr.com/photos/notionscapital/11372850544/

Chang'e 3 lander and rover: NASA Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter Camera Narrow Angle Camera, Public Domain, via Wikimedia Commons @ https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Chang%27e_3_landing_site.png

For further information:

Botkin-Kowacki, Eva. "China's 'Jade Rabbit' rover finds curious substance on moon." Christian Science Monitor > Science > First Look. Dec. 22, 2015.
Available @ http://www.csmonitor.com/Science/2015/1222/China-s-Jade-Rabbit-rover-finds-curious-substance-on-moon

Ling, Zongcheng, et al. "Correlated compositional and mineralogical investigations at the Chang'e landing site." Nature Communications, vol. 6 (Dec. 22, 2015): article 8880. DOI: 10.1038/ncomms9880
Available @ http://www.nature.com/ncomms/2015/151222/ncomms9880/full/ncomms9880.html

Marriner, Derdriu. "Chinese Moon Rover Yutu Finds New Moon Rocks in Purple Palace Crater." Earth and Space News. Monday, Dec. 28, 2015.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2015/12/chinese-moon-rover-yutu-finds-new-moon.html

wochit News. "Chinese Rover Discovers New Moon Rock." YouTube. Dec. 22, 2015.
Available @ http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DdjAdaOS3Ow