Fig. 5: Geologic features of the Chang’E-6 landing area and crater size-frequency distribution (CSFD) measurements based on descent camera images and topographic features captured by descent camera images.

a Regional context of the lunar farside centered at the Chang’E-6 landing site. The Apollo crater is outlined by a black dashed line and the CE-6 landing site is marked by a red star. The basemap uses color hill-shade topographic date from the global mosaic provided by the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter Camera (LROC) Wide Angle Camera (WAC)  (https://astrogeology.usgs.gov/search/map/moon_lro_lroc_wac_global_morphology_mosaic_100m) and Lunar Orbiter Laser Altimeter (LOLA) (https://astrogeology.usgs.gov/search/map/moon_lro_lo-la_selene_kaguya_tc_dem_merge_60n60s_59m). b Geological units surrounding the Apollo crater. Abbreviations: Ec (Eratosthenian crater unit), Ic (Imbrian lower crater unit), IN (Imbrian-Nectarian unit), Im1 (Imbrian lower mare unit), Im2 (Imbrian upper mare unit), Imd (Imbrian mare dome unit), Io (Imbrian orientale unit), Ip (Imbrian plains unit), N (Nectarian unit), pN (pre-Nectarian unit). c Comparison of crater recognition before and after physical image correction. The left panel shows the original, uncorrected descent image with craters outlined in blue. Due to severe geometric distortion, many craters appear elliptical; two notably deformed examples are enlarged below. The right panel displays the corrected image, where crater shapes are restored and all identified craters are marked in yellow. The lower insets demonstrate the improved circular morphology after correction for the same two craters. d–h Representative craters with varying morphological prominence used for degradation analysis. Craters are categorized into five types (A, AB, B, BC, C) following the method established by Basilevsky²⁰. i The CSFD results for the study area. j–m Images taken at varying descent heights from 110.99 to 0.4 m, showing the Chang’E-6 lander adjacent to a recently formed crater  ~ 3.5 m in diameter (marked by the white dashed circle in k). l Distribution of rocks ejected from the crater, with rocks indicated by yellow arrows and the direction of fluttering caused by rocket exhaust shown by dashed black arrows. m A close-up image taken after landing on the lunar surface, highlighting several rocks and a collapse caused by the lander. n–r Enlarged views of representative rocks from c& d. These rocks, with distinct borders and bright surfaces, are likely composed of Ca- and Al-rich plagioclase, as their silicate structure enhances reflectivity compared to the Fe-rich minerals like ilmenite in the surrounding lunar regolith. s A closer shot of the lunar soils, with particle sizes ranging from less than 1 pixel (<17.6 μm) to 49 pixels ( ~ 862.4 μm) in diameter based on the image resolution.