The Moon's south pole was once covered in an ocean of magma.
The Moon's south pole was once covered in a magma ocean
Indian researchers say that the findings back up the theory that an ocean of liquid molten rock formed the lunar surface approximately 4.5 billion years ago.
The historic Chandrayaan-3 mission landed on the Moon's south pole, where no craft had ever explored before, last year and found evidence of ferroan anorthosite - or molten rock - in the area.
Dr. Santosh Vadawale, an expert at the Physical Research Laboratory, said: "The theory of early evolution of the Moon becomes much more robust in the light of our observations."
Dr. Vadawale and the team were at mission control during Chandrayaan-3's explorations and described the excitement he and his colleagues felt at the discovery.
He said: "They were really exciting times. Sitting in the control room, moving the rover around on the lunar surface - that was a really a once-in-a-lifetime experience."