Image credit – China National Space Administration

The dark side of the moon isn’t just the name of a Pink Floyd album from the 70s. It is also a goal of several space organizations where they are interested in finding out if the side of the moon we can’t see will be any different. China had previously expressed their interest and earlier this year, their Chang’e probe successfully landed on it.

Now it seems that based on their initial findings, it turns out that the dark side of the moon actually plays home to some mysterious minerals. In the findings which were published to Nature, the country’s moon rover detected signs of lunar mantle material, which is believed to be able to help scientists better understand how both the Earth and the moon were formed.

According to scientists, they believe that in the very, very early days, them oon was covered in a magma ocean. Over time, it eventually cooled and became solid, thus allowing denser materials to remain deep within the ocean’s depths, while less dense materials floated to the surface. That being said, before we get ahead of ourselves, some scientists have warned that this study might be inconclusive.

However, regardless of it being inconclusive or not, scientists are acknowledging that discovering these materials represent a feat in itself.

Filed in General. Read more about , and . Source: engadget

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