Researchers analyzed lunar soil brought back by China's Chang'e-6, the first spacecraft to return with a haul of rocks and dirt from the little-explored far side.

Volcanic rock, dating back billions of years, has been detected in the first samples collected from the mysterious "dark side".

To obtain a sample from this area is really important because it’s an area that otherwise we have no data for.'

Space volcanoes have erupted on dark side of moon for over a billion years, scientists find - Li said the new findings reveal over 1 billion years of volcanic eruptions on the lunar far side. One piece of volcanic rock dated back 4.