This year, China became the first and so far, the only country to collect samples from the far side of the Moon.
It collected over 1.9 kg (4.26 pounds) of lunar material from the South Pole-Aitken basin, the Moon’s largest, deepest, and oldest impact basin.
The study discovered that the far side is composed of basalts and foreign ejecta, distinct from previously collected lunar samples.
The soil also contains more light-coloured particles like feldspar and glass compared to the samples collected by the 2020 Chang'e 5 near side mission.
This shows that the far side of the moon has experienced a variety of volcanic and impact events, making its history different from other parts of the moon.