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Separate effects of irradiation and impacts on lunar metallic iron formation observed in Chang’e-5 samples

Nature Astronomy (2024)Cite this article

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Abstract

Nanophase iron particles (npFe0) are generated on the surface of airless bodies by space weathering and can alter surficial optical properties substantially. However, the details of their formation pathways are still unclear. Here we use impact glasses returned from the Moon by Chang’e-5 to distinguish the relative contributions of solar wind irradiation and (micro)meteorites impacts to the production of different-sized npFe0. We show that solar wind irradiation can solely produce small npFe0, via implantation of solar wind ions into the topmost grain surfaces. On the other hand, (micro)meteorite impacts produce directly large npFe0 in melts, through impact-triggered disproportionation reaction or thermal decomposition. These nanoparticles are also capable to further coalesce into micrometre-sized Fe0 particles during impacts. These findings can help in predicting the space-weathering behaviour of regions exposed to different space environments.

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Fig. 1: Characterizations of ULnpFe0 on extremities of impact glasses.
Fig. 2: Characterizations of volume-correlated LnpFe0 and surface-correlated SnpFe0 in an impact glass.
Fig. 3: Size distributions of the three different types of npFe0.
Fig. 4: Abundant SnpFe0 throughout tiny glass grains.
Fig. 5: Schematic of origins of npFe0.

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Data availability

All data supporting this study are presented in the paper and its Supplementary Information. Source data for Figs. 1–4 are available via figshare at https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.25683804 (ref. 55).

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Acknowledgements

We are indebted to the China National Space Administration (CNSA) for providing the lunar samples. We thank all the staff of China’s CE-5 project for their brilliant work returning lunar samples. This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (T2322029, 52301225, 52192600, 52001220, 11790291 and 61888102), the Strategic Priority Research Program of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (XDB30000000), the Special Research Assistant Funding Program of the Chinese Academy of Sciences and Guangdong Major Project of Basic and Applied Basic Research, China (2019B030302010).

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  1. These authors contributed equally: Laiquan Shen, Rui Zhao, Chao Chang.

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute of Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China

    Laiquan Shen, Rui Zhao, Chao Chang, Jihao Yu, Dongdong Xiao, Haiyang Bai & Weihua Wang

  2. Center of Materials Science and Optoelectronics Engineering, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China

    Rui Zhao, Chao Chang, Jihao Yu & Haiyang Bai

  3. Songshan Lake Materials Laboratory, Dongguan, China

    Haiyang Bai & Weihua Wang

  4. Qian Xuesen Laboratory of Space Technology, China Academy of Space Technology, Beijing, China

    Zhigang Zou, Mengfei Yang & Weihua Wang

  5. College of Engineering and Applied Sciences, Nanjing University, Nanjing, China

    Zhigang Zou

  6. China Academy of Space Technology, Beijing, China

    Mengfei Yang

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Contributions

W.W., H.B., M.Y. and Z.Z. led the project. H.B. and L.S. supervised the research. L.S., R.Z., C.C., H.B. and W.W. conceived this work and wrote the manuscript. L.S. designed the experiments and performed the SEM measurements. D.X. and L.S performed the STEM measurements. L.S., R.Z. and C.C. analysed the experimental data. J.Y. assisted in data collection. All authors contributed to comment on the manuscript writing and the result discussions.

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Correspondence to Laiquan Shen, Dongdong Xiao or Haiyang Bai.

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Shen, L., Zhao, R., Chang, C. et al. Separate effects of irradiation and impacts on lunar metallic iron formation observed in Chang’e-5 samples. Nat Astron (2024). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41550-024-02300-0

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