Rocks from Chinese Moon mission suggest Luna's history needs revision

Chinese scientists think it's time to rewrite the Moon's history after analyzing samples returned to Earth by the Chang'e 6 mission.

Their opinion appears in a paper titled "A reinforced lunar dynamo recorded by Chang'e 6 farside basalt" that appeared in the journal Nature on Thursday.

Penned by 18 researchers from the Chinese Academy of Sciences, the paper assesses the paleointensity – a measure of historical magnetic field strength – exhibited in samples Chang'e 6 returned to Earth in June after making the first safe landing on the far side of the Moon.

Those samples included basalt thought to be 2.8 billion years old. Analysis of them suggested the Moon's magnetic field has increased in strength, compared to measurements from older samples from other sources.

That matters, because it's thought that the Moon once possessed a strong "dynamo" – the term for forces that create celestial bodies' magnetic fields – but that it weakened dramatically around 3.1 billion years ago and eventually shut down around a billion years back.

The paper suggests the Chang'e 6 samples represent a hint of a hitherto unsuspected resurgence in the dynamo's power, and speculates Luna may have somehow found some extra energy. Such as hypothesis challenges the prevailing view of a long downward slide to the current senescent state of Earth's sole permanent natural satellite.

Samples retrieved by Chang'e 6 were the first from the far side of the Moon, but the probe brought home just under 2kg of material. There's doubtless a lot more to be learned before we close the book on Lunar history.

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The USA's Artemis program aims to add some chapters – and its ability to do so advanced this week with news that updated launch control software for the Space Launch System rocket and Orion spacecraft have successfully passed a test.

NASA revealed on Thursday that "Engineers with Exploration Ground Systems (EGS) Program … first ensured the software the Artemis launch team uses can handle multiple inputs at the same time." They then "performed a launch countdown simulation starting at T-minus 2 hours and 30 minutes until liftoff, which included testing the 'abort switch,' a switch only the launch director and assistant launch director can flip in the event an abort at the launch pad is needed."

All went well, meaning the Artemis II mission has now passed six of eight planned ground tests. Thus it remains on track for its much-delayed and over-budget April 2026 launch for a ten-day mission that will see a crew of four fly past the Moon. Remember: we do these things not because they are easy, but because they are hard. ®