Moon's biggest crater was formed by asteroid hitting from north
Scientists just found out the Moon's largest and oldest crater—the South Pole-Aitken (SPA) basin—was created about 4.3 billion years ago by an asteroid hitting from the north, not the south as previously thought.
This flips what we knew about how this giant scar on the Moon came to be.
Impact exposed KREEP
That ancient impact dug up deep layers and exposed something called KREEP—a mix of potassium, rare earth elements, and phosphorus loaded with radioactive heat.
KREEP explains why one side of the Moon has dark volcanic plains (the maria), while the far side is thicker and packed with craters.
NASA's Artemis missions will explore the Moon
NASA's Artemis missions will soon explore around the SPA basin at the lunar south pole.
They'll collect samples from deep inside the Moon, which could reveal more about its radioactive minerals and help us piece together how our closest neighbor formed and evolved over billions of years.