# Chang'e-5 lunar samples reveal moon's evolutionary history

Chinese researchers have studied the lunar samples brought back by the Chang'e-5 mission and dated the youngest rock on the moon at around 2 billion years old, extending the "life" of lunar volcanism by 800-900 million years longer than previously known, according to a study presented in three Nature papers and published online on Oct. 19, 2021.

In December 2020, China's Chang'e-5 probe retrieved 1,731 grams of samples from the moon, which were the country's first samples collected from the extraterrestrial object.