China publishes world’s first high-definition lunar geological atlas

China on Sunday released a series of geological atlases of the Moon with a scale of 1:2.5 million, which is the world’s first complete high-definition lunar geological atlas, providing basic map data for future lunar research and exploration .

This set of atlases, available in Chinese and English, includes the Geological Atlas of the Lunar Globe and the Quadrilaterals of the Geological Atlas of the Moon Map, according to the Institute of Geochemistry of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS).

“The geological atlas of the Moon is of great importance for studying the evolution of the Moon, selecting the site for the future lunar research station and utilizing lunar resources. It can also help us better understand Earth and other planets in the solar system, such as Mars,” said Ouyang Ziyuan, who is an academic at CAS and a well-known lunar scientist.

“The world has witnessed significant progress in the field of lunar exploration and scientific research in recent decades, which has greatly improved our understanding of the Moon. However, lunar geological maps published during the Apollo era have not been updated for about half a century and still are being used for lunar geological research. With the improvements of lunar geological studies, these ancient maps can no longer meet the needs of future scientific research and lunar exploration,” said Liu Jianzhong, senior researcher at the CAS Institute of Geochemistry.