Panaji, Sep 2 - Chandrayaan's moon mineralogy mapper has confirmed the magma ocean hypothesis, meaning that the moon was once completely molten, a senior scientist said Wednesday.

'It proves beyond doubt the magma ocean hypothesis. There is no other way this massive rock type could be formed,' said Carle Pieters, science manager at the NASA-supported spectroscopy facility at Brown University in the US.

Pieters, who was in charge of the moon mineralogy mapper on Chandrayaan, was speaking to reporters on the sidelines of the Low Cost Planetary Mission Conference here.

Referring to the presence of anorthite, a calcium-rich iron-deficient layer on the upper crust of the lunar surface, she said this rose to the top as the moon eventually cooled down after a turbulent origin.

Pieters also said that the Chandrayaan mission, which has been abandoned after communication was lost with the satellite, had thrown up a couple of surprise findings, which included identification of a new rock type on the moon.