Volcanic rock samples collected during NASA's Apollo missions bear the isotopic signature of key events in the early evolution of the Moon, a new analysis found. Those events include the formation of the Moon's iron core, as well as the crystallization of the lunar magma ocean—the sea of molten rock thought to have covered the Moon for around 100 million years after the it formed.

The analysis, published in the journal Science Advances, used a technique called secondary ion mass spectrometry (SIMS) to study volcanic glasses returned from the Apollo 15 and 17 missions, which are thought to represent some of the most primitive volcanic material on the Moon. The study looked specifically at sulfur isotope composition, which can reveal details about the chemical evolution of lavas from generation, transport and eruption.

"For many years it appeared as though the lunar basaltic rock samples analyzed had a very limited variation in sulfur isotope ratios," said Alberto Saal, a geology professor at Brown University and study co-author. "That would suggest that the interior of the Moon has a basically homogeneous sulfur isotopic composition.

Does this image make you anxious or are you already tracking where all the wires go? If the latter, you might have what it takes to be an astronaut!

It is an exciting time for space. With NASA's latest rover safely on Mars and ESA's call for the next class of astronauts, the space industry is teeming with possibilities.

This image taken in ESA's Columbus laboratory on the International Space Station is a snapshot of the many opportunities in space research and exploration.

In the center is the Biolab facility, a fridge-sized unit that hosts biological experiments on micro-organisms, cells, tissue cultures, small plants and small invertebrates. Performing life science experiments in space identifies the role that weightlessness plays at all levels of an organism, from the effects on a single cell up to a complex organism—including humans.

The facility has enabled researchers to make some remarkable discoveries, most notably that mammalian immune cells required a mere 42 seconds to adapt to weightlessness, prompting more questions but also an overall positive outlook for long-duration human spaceflight.

The pink glow in the image is from the greenhouse that has enabled many studies on plant growth in space.