However, the results are not definitive, with the paper noting the analysis is limited by the fact that VNIS measurements were taken under bad illumination conditions and other factors.
Dr Daniel Moriarty, a postdoctoral program fellow at space agency NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center, revealed the procedure was particularly challenging because Chang’e 4 is exploring a completely unmapped area of the Moon.
He said: “We don’t have samples from this region that would help inform the model parameters. For this reason, the precise regolith composition results presented in this paper may not be completely accurate.
“However, the authors do an excellent job of rigorously documenting their approach and assumptions, so their results can be understood in the context of this extremely challenging problem.”