Lunar craters show that the Moon has a lot of metal
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NASA’s Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) spacecraft is currently studying the Moon. The LRO was launched in 2009. Its data is important for planning NASA’s future human and robotic missions to the Moon.
Recently, the LRO has found new evidence that the Moon’s craters might be richer in metals (like iron and titanium) than the earlier estimates.
If this is confirmed, it could change our understanding of how the Moon was formed.
Evidence shows that the Moon was created from Earth’s crust as a result of a massive crash with a third body. So, the Moon’s bulk chemical composition is very similar to that of Earth.
However, the Moon’s surface has more metals than Earth’s crust. This has puzzled scientists as Earth’s crust is poor in metal.
In the recent discovery, researchers were using an instrument called the Mini-RF to look for ice on the Moon’s Northern Hemisphere. They were measuring the dielectric constant. This is an electrical property of lunar soil within craters.
They found that the dielectric constant got higher as the craters got bigger. It indicates the higher presence of metals. This means the larger craters contained more metal because they reached deeper inside the surface.
Now, scientists are wondering if the Moon was created from material much deeper inside Earth. NASA is now studying the Southern Hemisphere of the Moon to compare the findings.
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