New Insight Into Lunar Regolith‐Forming Processes by the Lunar Rover Yutu‐2
Honglei Lin, Yangting Lin, Wei Yang, Zhiping He, Sen Hu, Yong Wei, Rui Xu, Jinhai Zhang, Xiaohui Liu, Jianfeng Yang, Yan Xing, Chengwu Yu, Yongliao Zou
Abstract
Abstract The Yutu‐2 rover of the Chang'E‐4 spacecraft observed many meter‐sized shallow pits fully covered with small fragments, distinct from the typical rock‐free impact craters with comparable sizes in the landing area. The unique morphology of the pits and the visible and near‐infrared spectra of the fragments suggest that the fragments are broken pieces of impact melt‐conglutinated regolith breccia projectiles, which were excavated from preexisting craters. The rareness of rock on the landing area surface suggests that the preexisting craters were probably small in size (e.g., <60 m in diameter), not large enough to penetrate the thick regolith (~12 m) and to excavate the beneath rock breccia and/or bedrock. The presence of the impact melts was confirmed by the glass‐like spectra of some fragments with unusually high albedo and blue‐green tint in the centers of the pits. These observations reveal the gardening and consolidating processes on the Moon.