Studies carried by one of the instruments on the Chandrayaan-3 mission have produced new evidence to support the most widely accepted hypothesis on the early evolution of Moon which suggests that the lunar surface was covered with a sea of molten material, or magma, in its early periods. The Alpha Particle X-ray Spectrometer (APXS), one of the two instruments on the rover of Chandrayaan-3, has provided first information on the top soil composition in the southern latitudes of the Moon. Analysis of the data collected by APXS has shown that the soil in this never-before-explored region of the Moon was a mixture of mainly two types of rocks —one from the magma, which was expected, and the other likely from deeper layers of the lunar surface which could provide new insights into its evolution, a study published in the Nature journal said. The formation of Moon is believed to be a result of a collision of a large asteroid with Earth about 4.2 to 4.3 billion years ago. In its early life, Moon is supposed to have been entirely an ocean of magma. As it cooled down over millions of years, heavier silicon and magnesium rich minerals like Olivine and Pyroxene sank and formed the inner layers of the Moon. Lighter minerals, with Calcium and Sodium based compounds, formed the outer layer.
