The Moon’s far side is not darker, but it is rougher: its crust is about 60 kilometres thick versus 40 on the Earth-facing side, so ancient impacts struggled to punch through and flood it with the dark lava seas that made the familiar face we see

The far side's thicker crust impeded magma, but GRAIL and Chang'e-6 show that heat, chemistry and lithospheric cooling also shaped the Moon's unequal faces. The post The Moon’s far side is not darker, but it is rougher: its crust is about 60 kilometres thick versus 40 on the Earth-facing side, so ancient impacts struggled to punch through and flood it with the dark lava seas that made the familiar…