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RCDSE study found impact remnants on the Moon that may provide source of water

8 Dec 2021

Research Results

A study led by the National Space Science Center of Chinese Academy of Sciences and joined by Prof. Wu Bo, Associate Director of Research Centre for Deep Space Explorations and Associate Head of Department of Land Surveying and Geo-informatics of PolyU, has found carbonaceous chondrite remnants of an impactor in a young lunar crater formed within one million years, a first-time discovery of such fragments by in-situ investigation on the far side of the Moon. Scientists suggests that carbonaceous chondrite-like meteorites may provide 10 to 20% of the sources of water to the present Moon.

Prof. Wu’s involvement in the research was to use innovative 3D mapping technology to create a detailed 3D topographic model of the 2-m size crater from the lunar surface images acquired by the Yutu-2 rover of Chang’e-4. The 3D morphological characteristic of the crater is critical to judge if the crater was resulted from a meteorite impact or not.
The results were published in the scientific journal Nature Astronomy (https://doi.org/10.1038/s41550-021-01530-w).

Please refer to the following links for the media interviews: 

 




Topics Researcch
Research Units Research Centre for Deep Space Explorations

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