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

Jialong Lai, Yi Xu (), Roberto Bugiolacchi, Xu Meng, Long Xiao, Minggang Xie, Bin Liu, Kaichang Di, Xiaoping Zhang, Bin Zhou, Shaoxiang Shen and Luyuan Xu
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Jialong Lai: Macau University of Science and Technology
Yi Xu: Macau University of Science and Technology
Roberto Bugiolacchi: Macau University of Science and Technology
Xu Meng: Macau University of Science and Technology
Long Xiao: Macau University of Science and Technology
Minggang Xie: Macau University of Science and 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
Shaoxiang Shen: Chinese Academy of Sceience
Luyuan Xu: Macau University of Science and Technology

Nature Communications, 2020, vol. 11, issue 1, 1-9

Abstract: 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.

Date: 2020
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DOI: 10.1038/s41467-020-17262-w

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