{"id":28052,"date":"2025-05-12T10:37:52","date_gmt":"2025-05-12T02:37:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.curtin.edu.au\/news\/?post_type=media-release&p=28052"},"modified":"2025-05-12T10:37:56","modified_gmt":"2025-05-12T02:37:56","slug":"glass-beads-offer-a-window-into-the-moons-hidden-depths","status":"publish","type":"media-release","link":"https:\/\/www.curtin.edu.au\/news\/media-release\/glass-beads-offer-a-window-into-the-moons-hidden-depths\/","title":{"rendered":"Glass beads offer a window into the Moon\u2019s hidden depths"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

An international study<\/a> featuring scientists from Curtin University\u2019s School of Earth and Planetary Sciences<\/a> and Space Science and Technology Centre<\/a> offers new insights into the Moon\u2019s history and provide a better understanding of what lies beneath its cratered surface.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Researchers from Curtin University, Nanjing University and The Australian National University analysed tiny, green glass beads collected by Chang\u2019e-5 \u2014 the Chinese National Space Administration mission to the Moon.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Typically, lunar glass beads are formed from impacts that melt surface rocks.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, the beads in this study were found to have unusually high levels of magnesium, which Professor Alexander Nemchin<\/a> from the School of Earth and Planetary Sciences<\/a> said was evidence of a potentially deeper origin.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThese high-magnesium glass beads may have formed when an asteroid smashed into rocks that originated from the mantle deep within the Moon,\u201d Professor Nemchin said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThis is exciting, because we\u2019ve never sampled the mantle directly before: the tiny glass beads offer us a glimpse of the Moon\u2019s hidden interior.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Co-author Professor Tim Johnson<\/a>, also from Curtin\u2019s School of Earth and Planetary Sciences, said the chemistry of the beads was unlike that of lunar surface rocks sampled previously.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Professor Johnson said the rocks may have been brought up from the Moon\u2019s mantle by a massive impact.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cOne such event could be the formation of the Imbrium Basin, which is a huge crater formed more than 3 billion years ago,\u201d Professor Johnson said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cRemote sensing has shown the area around the basin’s edge contains the kind of minerals that match the glass bead chemistry.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThis is a big step forward in understanding how the Moon evolved internally; if these samples really are pieces of the mantle, it tells us that impacts can excavate otherwise inaccessible mantle material to the surface\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Study lead Professor Xiaolei Wang from Nanjing University said the discovery could have wider implications and influence future missions to the Moon and other planets.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cUnderstanding how the Moon\u2019s interior is made helps us compare it to Earth and other planets,\u201d Professor Wang said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt could even guide future missions, whether robotic or human, that aim to explore the Moon\u2019s deep geology.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2018A potential mantle origin for precursor rocks of high-Mg impact glass beads in Chang\u2019e-5 soil\u2019<\/em> was published in Science Advances<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

An international study featuring scientists from Curtin University\u2019s School of Earth and Planetary Sciences and […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4457,"featured_media":28053,"template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_oasis_is_in_workflow":0,"_oasis_original":0,"_oasis_task_priority":"","_relevanssi_hide_post":"","_relevanssi_hide_content":"","_relevanssi_pin_for_all":"","_relevanssi_pin_keywords":"","_relevanssi_unpin_keywords":"","_relevanssi_related_keywords":"","_relevanssi_related_include_ids":"","_relevanssi_related_exclude_ids":"","_relevanssi_related_no_append":"","_relevanssi_related_not_related":"","_relevanssi_related_posts":"","_relevanssi_noindex_reason":"","wds_primary_category":0,"wds_primary_research-areas":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[106,104],"tags":[1066],"research-areas":[],"class_list":["post-28052","media-release","type-media-release","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-planetary-science","category-space-and-physics","tag-sstc"],"acf":{"experts":false,"post_options":{"":null,"additional_content":{"title":"","content":"","image":false},"related_courses":[{"title":"","qualification":"","link":"","description":"","faculty":""}],"credits":{"author":"","photographer":"","media":[22646,24381]},"display_author":true,"banner":{"image":false}}},"featured_image":"https:\/\/www.curtin.edu.au\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/Moon-glass-1920x1080.jpeg","author_meta":{"first_name":"Sam","last_name":"Jeremic","display_name":"Samuel Jeremic"},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.curtin.edu.au\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media-release\/28052","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.curtin.edu.au\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media-release"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.curtin.edu.au\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/media-release"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.curtin.edu.au\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4457"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.curtin.edu.au\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media-release\/28052\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.curtin.edu.au\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/28053"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.curtin.edu.au\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=28052"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.curtin.edu.au\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=28052"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.curtin.edu.au\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=28052"},{"taxonomy":"research-areas","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.curtin.edu.au\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/research-areas?post=28052"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}