It seems like the Yutu-2 rover is having a great time. As part of China's Chang'e-4 lunar lander mission, it has been investigating the moon's far side since early 2019. Its gaze has now been drawn to a strange-looking cube-shaped object in the distance.
A writer who covers the Chinese space program for SpaceNews and Space.com, Andrew Jones, highlighted a new rover update. With that, he sent a series of Twitter threads over the cube-shaped object's moniker. 神秘小屋 means "mystery house." The said cube sits in the Kármán crater.
Ah. We have an update from Yutu-2 on the lunar far side, including an image of a cubic shape on the northern horizon ~80m away from the rover in Von Kármán crater. Referred to as "神秘小屋" ("mystery house"), the next 2-3 lunar days will be spent getting closer to check it out. pic.twitter.com/LWPZoWN05I
— Andrew Jones (@AJ_FI) December 3, 2021
Yutu-2 Detects a Cube-Shaped Object on Moon
This week, China's space agency released fascinating photographs from the Yutu-2 lunar rover. However, the rover crew intends to drive over to the item and take a closer look just like before.
Because Yutu-2's perspective of the cube is hazy and distant, the real nature of the object should become apparent as the rover draws closer.
"It's not an obelisk or [a foreign item], but certainly something to check out," Jones tweeted in follow-up. He believes that the item might be a rock-cut out by an asteroid impact. He also shared a photo of a similarly sharply defined boulder observed on the Moon's surface before.
So yeah, it's not an obelisk or aliens, but certainly something to check out, and hard to discern much from the image. But large boulders (right) are sometimes excavated by impacts, as seen by the Chang'e-3 mission, which launched 8 years ago on Dec 1. [CNSA/CLEP] pic.twitter.com/ifOIFr4oQI
— Andrew Jones (@AJ_FI) December 3, 2021
According to CNet, Yutu-2 discovered a "gel-like" material within a crater in 2019. Glassy-looking rock turned revealed to be the material in question.
The concept of artifacts on the Moon has a long history in popular culture, like the scene from "2001: A Space Odyssey?" But none have ever been discovered in actuality. Impact craters pockmark this moon area, and they can contain a lot of chunky material.
Mystery Item Investigation Might Take Up to 3 Earth Months
Futurism said Yutu-2 would journey to the cube for two or three lunar days; lunar days are roughly 50 minutes longer than solar days on Earth.
Each lunar day lasts slightly over 29 days and 12 hours, Portuguese news site Record 7 said. This implies that the investigation will take two to three earth months to complete.
The rover has gone around 900 meters over the dark side of the Moon so far. The job is done slowly to avoid the vehicle slipping into a hole; also, the Yutu-2 is powered by solar energy: when the surface where the robot is located becomes dark and the energy runs out, the robot falls into "hibernation" until the Sun shines again.
The Chang'e-4 mission is the world's first surface investigation of the moon's far side. Scientists have learned a lot about what's going on under the surface of the moon, thanks to the rover's efforts.
RELATED ARTICLE : Chinese Zhurong Rover Gets Mileage of More Than 800 Meters on Mars Crossing Terrains of Rocks, Craters, and Dunes
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