Our solar system formed from a cloud of gas and dust that collapsed under its own gravity. Large rocky objects such as planets, moons, and large asteroids can form magma oceans with the heat generated as they grow. 'Understanding these processes in more detail will have implications for important follow-up questions: How does this early heating affect the distribution of water and atmospheric gases of a planet? Does water stick around, or is it all boiled away? What are the implications for early habitability and the genesis of life?' adds Moriarty, lead author of the papers, published August 3 in Nature Communications and January 2021 in the Journal of Geophysical Research. Earth's moon is the most accessible and well-preserved body to study these fundamental processes. The formation of magma oceans and their evolution are thought to be common processes among rocky planets and moons throughout our solar system and beyond. Magma oceans evolve as they cool down and dense materials sink while light materials rise.

'This is the most up-to-date evaluation of the evolution of the lunar interior, synthesizing numerous recent developments to paint a new picture of the history of the mantle and how and where it may have been exposed on the lunar surface,' said Daniel Moriarty of NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Maryland and the University of Maryland, College Park. If collected and analyzed, these fragments from deep within the moon can provide a better understanding of how the moon, the Earth, and many other solar system worlds evolved. Recently, a pair of NASA studies identified the most likely locations to find pieces of mantle on the surface, providing a map for future lunar sample return missions such as those under NASA's Artemis program.

The moon secrets