China releases the most complete geological map of the Moon; look at the pictures

Researchers from China Launching the world's most complete atlas of Earth's geology moon, in the context of China's own exploration program Chang'e. The map specifies a satellite geological time scale. It also shows the tectonic and magnetic evolution of the Moon.

More than 12,000 craters were mapped, in addition to 81 impact basins (when the diameter of the crater exceeds 300 kilometers), and 17 different types of rocks. The atlas is available in Chinese and English.

Since 2012, Ouyang Ziyuan and Liu Jianzhong, researchers from the Chinese Academy of Sciences, have led an international team of scientists and cartographers in compiling the atlas. They collected data from international and Chinese space missions, such as Chang'e itself.

The atlas was integrated into the cloud platform created by Chinese scientists that collects information about the moon, and researchers hope it will provide data for future research. Explorations lunar.

“The lunar geological atlas is of great importance for studying the evolution of the Moon, selecting a location for future lunar research stations and making use of lunar resources. It can also help us understand Land And other planets in Solar System“Like Mars,” Ouyang Ziyuan says.

Current maps of the Moon still use data from the so-called Apollo era, when NASA missions (NASA) landed at six different points on the moon's surface between 1969 and 1972.

For researchers, these representations do not match the progress that lunar exploration and research has made since then. Liu Jianzhong highlights that “lunar geological maps published during the Apollo era have not changed for about half a century and are still used in lunar geological research.”

On May 3, 2024, China intends to launch the Chang'e-6 mission to the moon. The mission seeks to collect samples from one of the largest and oldest craters on the satellite, the Antarctic-Ekten Basin. The newly released map is expected to provide macroscopic geological context to increase the efficiency of the search.