1.97 billion years old Moon rocks set new record for youngest lunar material

Lava used to flow on the surface of the Moon around 1.97 billion years ago. This can be proved easily as there are rocks to support the claim, findings of a study said.   

The study, which was published in the journal ‘Science’, has been done by an international collaboration of planetary scientists.  

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Several researchers from countries, such as China, Australia, Sweden and the US, have been studying samples collected from the Moon by the Chinese National Space Agency during the Chang'e-5 mission.  

An uncrewed mission, which included a robotic lander, Chang'e-5 was carried out in December 2020. It landed on the near side of the Moon (the Earth-facing side).   

The mission had returned with 1.7 kilograms (3.7 pounds) of lunar rocks to Earth. These were the first samples collected from the Moon since 1976 during Soviet Union's Luna 24 mission.  

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The Chang'e-5 mission’s one of the goals were to find evidence of some youngest volcanic eruptions on the Moon.  

Although the scientists earlier have been able to predict volcanic rocks of this age on the Moon by studying the number of impact craters on the lunar surface, it was impossible to confirm it without any samples.  

(With inputs from agencies)