New map of Orientale basin may guide lunar sample missions

Los Angeles CA (SPX) Nov 19, 2024

Billions of years in the past, an asteroid of immense size collided with the Moon, generating such intense heat that the lunar rock melted and glowed white-hot before eventually solidifying. This formed the multi-ringed Orientale basin, a major impact feature on the Moon's surface. Acquiring samples of such impact melt is of great value to scientists, who can analyze them in laboratories t