He mentioned that China’s upcoming Chang’e-6 mission is expected to collect samples in the Apollo Basin within the South Pole-Aitken Basin on the far side of the moon, which means materials ejected from ancient terrain may be collected in the process. “Our map can provide a macroscopic geologic background to improve the purpose and efficiency of the sample research,” Liu explained.
The compilation of this map was an immense task, which required the organization and cooperation of many well-informed researchers over many years to be able to achieve a consistent and complete result, commented Gregory Michael, a senior scientist from the Free University of Berlin in Germany.
“This map, in particular, is the first on a global scale to utilize all of the post-Apollo era data. It builds on the achievements of the international community over the last decades, as well as on China’s own highly successful Chang’e program. It will be a starting point for every new question of lunar geology, and become a primary resource for researchers studying lunar processes of all kinds,” Michael added.
SANGHA KOMMUNE (SSR) 