Rock and dust samples from the Moon
Rock and dust samples from the Moon
One of the most important scientific tasks of the six moon landings that took place between 1969 and 1972 was the collection of lunar rock and regolith samples. The goal was to find out how old the Moon is and how it evolved. The analysis of lunar samples has shown that the bright components of the lunar surface represent the primary layer of lighter rocks such as anorthosite. These rocks are over four billion years old and have been redistributed multiple times due to the impact of asteroids. The dark areas visible to the naked eye, however, originated from iron- and magnesium-rich volcanic activity that did not begin until several hundred million years later. The image shows Alan Bean, the Lunar Module Pilot of Apollo 12, the second mission to land on the Moon, with a dust-filled sample capsule. Commander Charles Conrad is reflected on the visor.
