Scientists have just uncovered billions of years’ worth of secrets buried beneath the surface of the moon. Our celestial companion has been a source of awe and mystery since time immemorial, but now, thanks to China’s space programme, we’re starting to piece together its past. In 2018, the Chang’e-4 lander, of the Chinese National Space Administration (CNSA), became the first spacecraft ever to land on the far side (or the dark side, if you'd prefer) of the moon. Since then, it has been capturing incredible images of impact craters and extracting mineral samples, offering a long-sought insight into the structures that make up the top 1,000 feet of the moon’s surface. Earlier this month, the Chang’e-4’s findings were finally published, and the world was invited to delve deep into the history of our cherished natural satellite. The results, published in the Journal of Geophysical Research: Planets, reveal that the top 130 feet (40m) of the lunar surface are made up of multiple layers of dust, soil, and broken rocks. Hidden within these layers is a crater, which formed when a large object slammed into the moon, according to Jianqing Feng, an astrogeological researcher at the Planetary Science Institute in Tucson, Arizona, who co-led the pioneering analysis. Beneath this, Feng and his colleagues discovered five distinct layers of lunar lava that spread across the landscape billions of years ago. Experts believe that our moon formed 4.51 billion years ago, when a Mars-size object crashed into Earth and broke off a chunk of our planet, as Live Science notes. Over the following 200 million years or so, the moon continued to be pummelled by space debris, with numerous impacts leaving cracks in its surface. Just like on Earth, the moon’s mantle contained pockets of molten magma, which infiltrated the newly formed cracks thanks to a series of volcanic eruptions, Feng explained. However, the new data provided by Chang’e-4 showed that the closer the volcanic rock was to the moon’s surface, the thinner it got. "[The moon] was slowly cooling down and running out of steam in its later volcanic stage," Feng said. "Its energy became weak over time." It is understood that volcanic activity on the moon died out between a billion and 100 million years ago, which means it is largely considered “geologically dead”. However, Feng and his co-authors have suggested there could still be magma buried deep beneath the lunar surface. Chang’e-4 still has much work to do, and Feng and his team hope this is just the beginning of their literally ground-breaking mapping of the moon. Sign up for our free Indy100 weekly newsletter Have your say in our news democracy. Click the upvote icon at the top of the page to help raise this article through the indy100 rankings.

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James Maddison is more than happy to shoulder responsibility at Tottenham but has insisted it will take a “collective” effort to replace Harry Kane. Maddison continues to impress in the Spurs number 10 shirt previously worn by Kane, who completed a £100million move to Bayern Munich on the eve of the new season. Kane’s departure has not derailed the early progress of Ange Postecoglou’s team with Maddison relishing his role as creator in chief with two assists at Brentford earlier this month followed up with a maiden Tottenham goal in Saturday’s 2-0 win over Bournemouth. While Richarlison and captain Son Heung-min are yet to open their accounts for the season, Dejan Kulusevski ended his drought with the second at the Vitality Stadium to extend the feelgood factor currently around the club. “It’s tough if you’re asking me to try and get 30 goals,” Maddison joked. “It’s a collective. You can’t even look to replace what Harry Kane gives you. You’ve got to all chip in and look to try and score the same amount of goals from different areas. “Harry is probably the best number nine in the world. You will never find a direct replacement in terms of goals and what he can give you. We should all be chipping in.” Spurs have had five different goalscorers and benefited from an own goal during their three Premier League fixtures and there appears a new lease of life for several members of a squad rundown by the end of a tough 2022-23 campaign. Yves Bissouma and Pape Sarr, having rarely featured under Postecoglou’s predecessor Antonio Conte, have quickly formed an encouraging midfield partnership with Maddison, and Pedro Porro has made the most of his early opportunities at right-back. When Maddison joined from Leicester in June for an initial £40million fee, he was not viewed as a replacement for Kane but continues to provide creativity and a goal threat. It's tough if you're asking me to try and get 30 goals! It's a collective. James Maddison on replacing Harry Kane The 26-year-old insists the philosophy of ex-Celtic boss Postecoglou has been key to Tottenham’s flying start despite losing the England captain. Maddison told BBC’s Match of the Day: “The type of person I am, I’m at my best when I have responsibility on my shoulders and that’s when I thrive. “I am a player who loves to be on the ball and that fits with how the manager wants his players to play. This was a good day for all that. “We’ve got the bit between our teeth. We have some momentum so long may that continue and hopefully we can still implement the final steps the gaffer wants to see, which is attacking football.” Postecoglou has enjoyed an unbeaten start to life at Tottenham but it is a different story for Bournemouth head coach Andoni Iraola. Iraola watched his team open the season with a 1-1 home draw against West Ham before defeats have followed against Liverpool and Tottenham. The fixture list does not get any kinder with Brentford, Chelsea, Brighton and Arsenal to come in September but Iraola blamed himself for a drop-off during the latter stages of this Spurs loss, with Ryan Christie’s withdrawal on the hour mark viewed in hindsight as a mistake. “We knew from the beginning that we had a very tough schedule to start and now we have some important players out with injuries but we have to keep competing,” Iraola insisted. “I think probably after the game you think and I shouldn’t have taken Ryan out of from the game because especially without the ball, he was pressing really well. “I wanted to go a little bit more offensive, but we were worse from that point. I don’t know if it was after the subs or 2-0 because it was one minute later. “Probably until the 62nd minute we were playing well and – against a very good team – having our chances. “So, I was quite happy with the performance, but from there we couldn’t keep the intensity and they were controlling the game much easier.” Read More Charity boss speaks out over ‘traumatic’ encounter with royal aide Ukraine war’s heaviest fight rages in east - follow live Iain Henderson: World Cup selection not a factor in unconvincing Ireland display Daniel Dubois’ camp to lobby for No Contest after Oleksandr Usyk drama On this day in 2016: Hull beat Warrington to win Challenge Cup

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