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posted by mrpg on Thursday January 31 2019, @12:00PM   Printer-friendly
from the fire-the-cleaning-person dept.

Scientists may have discovered the oldest Earth rock ever—on the Moon. A lunar sample returned by the Apollo 14 astronauts may contain a bit of Earth from about 4 billion years ago. The research about this possible relic from the Hadean Earth is published today in the journal Earth and Planetary Science Letters.

An international team of scientists associated with the Center for Lunar Science and Exploration (CLSE), part of NASA's Solar System Exploration Research Virtual Institute, found evidence that the rock was launched from Earth by a large impacting asteroid or comet. This impact jettisoned material through Earth's primitive atmosphere, into space, where it collided with the surface of the Moon (which was three times closer to Earth than it is now) about 4 billion years ago. The rock was subsequently mixed with other lunar surface materials into one sample.

NASA: Earth's Oldest Rock Found on the Moon
Also at Fox News: Moon discovery: Ancient 4-billion-year-old relic found on lunar surface


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  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday January 31 2019, @09:53PM

    by Anonymous Coward on Thursday January 31 2019, @09:53PM (#794724)

    Soviet sent animals around the moon. Did USA, before the Apollo 8? Or did we rely on their findings?