- The Facts:A Chinese probe that landed on the far side of the Moon has come across a strange, liquid life substance. So far, they have no idea what it could be.
- Reflect On:How long have aspects of our Moon been known about but perhaps not made public? Are you aware of all that is known about the Moon but that has been kept private?
China recently landed a probe on the dark side of the Moon. Mainstream media claims that these are the first ever pictures taken, but that’s false. It’s the first time we’ve landed there, but we’ve seen photographs of this side in the past. For example, members of the Society For Planetary SETI Research (SPSR) published a paper in the Journal of Space Exploration about certain features on the far side of the Moon that appear in the crater Paracelsus C.
The study argues that these features may be artificial in origin, meaning that perhaps another intelligent life form built them and put them there. They used images from one of the Apollo missions.
After the recent Chinese landing, the probe sent back images from the dark side of the Moon. It’s no doubt a major milestone for space exploration within the public eye. The probe will also spend the coming months using its instruments to analyze the untouched surface, potentially helping scientists learn more about the structure and geology of the Moon, which is an area that scientists know little about.
And just to clarify, it’s referred to as the ‘dark’ side of the Moon due to the fact that we can never see that side from Earth, it’s not as if the sunlight never reaches that side of the Moon.
The latest news with regards to this mission comes in the form of a strange discovery of an unusual ‘gel-like’ substance that has an unusual colour.
According to Space.com
The mission’s rover, Yutu-2, stumbled on that surprise during lunar day 8. The discovery prompted scientists on the mission to postpone other driving plans for the rover, and instead focus its instruments on trying to figure out what the strange material is.
The drive team, excited by the discovery, called in their lunar scientists. Together, the teams decided to postpone Yutu-2’s plans to continue west and instead ordered the rover to check out the strange material.
With the help of obstacle-avoidance cameras, Yutu-2 carefully approached the crater and then targeted the unusually colored material and its surroundings. The rover examined both areas with its Visible and Near-Infrared Spectrometer (VNIS), which detects light that is scattered or reflected off materials to reveal their makeup.