China’s Chang’e 6 mission successfully returned to Earth one year ago today, delivering the first-ever rock and soil samples from the Moon’s farside. Because the largely unexplored farside is distinct from the nearside in volcanic activity, surface features, and chemical composition, the samples offer unprecedented opportunity to understand the Moon’s early history. Analysis of the returned basalts, which are dated to approximately 2.8 billion years ago, is ongoing, but thus far has provided new details about the evolution of the Moon’s magnetic field – while previous data showed a decline in strength 3.1 billion years ago, the Chang’e 6 samples suggest the field rebounded. The mission also yielded the first water estimate for the farside mantle and a possible dichotomy in lunar water distribution: The farside appears to be drier than the nearside.
