Investigating the variation of iron-titanium content in lunar farside regolith along the route of the Yutu-2 rover with lunar penetrating radar.

Abstract

Abstract The Chang’e-4 lander successfully landed in the Von Kármán crater on the farside of the Moon in 2019, collecting a large amount of scientific data to analyze the surface material and subsurface structures of the Von Kármán crater. In this study, we processed the high-frequency radar data from the first 25 lunar days collected by the Lunar Penetrating Radar along the route of the Yutu-2 rover. Using the peak frequency shift method, we calculated the loss tangent of the shallow regolith layer ranged from 3×10−3 to 5.5×10−3. The estimated TiO2 and FeO content in the regolith is 11.2 wt% - 14.7 wt%, revealing a heterogeneous distribution of iron and titanium content along the CE-4 landing site.