Tiny green glass beads collected by China’s Chang’e-5 lunar mission are unlocking secrets of the Moon’s deep interior, offering scientists unprecedented insights into its geological history.
According to researchers from China and Australia, these glass beads differ from typical lunar glass formed by surface impacts. Instead, they contain unusually high levels of magnesium, hinting at a deeper origin within the Moon’s mantle.
“These high-magnesium glass beads may have formed when an asteroid smashed into rocks originating from deep within the Moon,” said Alexander Nemchin of Australia’s Curtin University’s School of Earth and Planetary Sciences. “This is exciting because we’ve never sampled the mantle directly before. The tiny glass beads offer us a glimpse of the Moon’s hidden interior.”
Co-author Tim Johnson noted that the composition of the beads is significantly different from previously studied lunar materials. This suggests they may have emerged during the formation of the Imbrium Basin—a massive impact crater formed over 3 billion years ago.
“Remote sensing has shown that the area around the basin’s edge contains minerals that match the glass bead chemistry,” Johnson said. “If these samples are indeed from the mantle, it confirms that giant impacts can bring deep, otherwise inaccessible material to the surface—a major breakthrough in understanding the Moon’s geological evolution.”
Lead author Wang Xiaolei from China’s Nanjing University believes the discovery could shape future Moon missions. “Uncovering the Moon’s interior structure helps us compare it with Earth and other planets, and better plan robotic or crewed exploration,” Wang said.
The findings not only shed light on the Moon’s formation and evolution but also pave the way for future explorations that could reveal more about our celestial neighbor and, by extension, our own planet.
