Fig. 1: Magnetic properties of the CE6 lunar soils.

a Topographic map showing the CE6 landing site within the South Pole-Aitken (SPA) Basin. White ellipses (partial view) oriented north-south indicate best-fit inner and outer structural rims of the SPA Basin (modified from ref. ²³). b Map illustrating the lunar crustal magnetic field strengths projected on the lunar surface near the CE6 landing region (data from ref. ²⁹). c–e Representative magnetic measurements of CE6 soils: (c) magnetic hysteresis loop (black), and corresponding isothermal remanence magnetization (IRM, red) acquisition and direct current demagnetization (blue) curves; (d) first-order reversal curves (FORC) diagram illustrating magnetic domain states and interactions; and (e) decomposition of IRM acquisition curve revealing three coercivity components. f, g Scatter plots comparing low-frequency magnetic susceptibility (χ_lf) versus saturation remanence (M_rs) (f, data from ref. ¹³), and M_rs versus saturation magnetization (M_s) (g, data from ref. ³³), placing CE6 soils in context with nearside lunar soils from Apollo, Luna, and Chang’e-5 missions. h Plot of the Fe⁰/FeO versus Is/FeO (ferromagnetic resonance intensity normalized by total iron content, data from ref. ³³), showing the high maturity level of CE6 soils.