Beads suggest more recent lunar volcanic activity

A collection of glass beads retrieved by China's Chang'e 5 lunar mission revealed that the moon might have been geologically active as recently as 123 million years ago.

Lunar samples obtained before the mission indicated that the moon's volcanic activities had ceased approximately 3 billion years ago, suggesting it had become a "dead planet." However, the basaltic rock fragments returned by Chang'e 5 suggest a more recent period of volcanic activity, dating back to just 2 billion years ago.

A new study has revealed that three volcanic glass beads, which are supposed to be the products of rapid cooling of volcanic magma, formed only about 123 million years ago and were subsequently transported to the Chang'e 5 landing site.