It sounds like something from 2001, in which a mysterious monolith on the Moon led to exploration of Jupiter. But this is real life: The Yutu-2 lunar rover, part of the Chang’e 4 mission, took a picture of what appears to be a cube.
The image was found yesterday and presented by journalist Andrew Jones, an expert with the National Space Administration of China, China’s version of NASA.
Ah. We have an update from Yutu-2 on the far side of the moon, including an image of a cube shape on the northern horizon regarding 80m from the rover in Von Kármán crater. Called “神秘小屋” (“mystery house”), the next 2-3 lunar days will be all regarding getting closer to check it out. pic.twitter.com/LWPZoWN05I
– Andrew Jones (@AJ_FI) December 3, 2022
After learning of the discovery, the Chinese agency named the object on the Moon the “House of Mystery”. And decided to end the mystery by moving the rover towards him to find out what it is. The probe was only 80 meters away when the photo was taken and is expected to spend the next three lunar days approaching the object on the Moon.
It’s more than it seems: a lunar day is equivalent to 27 days, 7 hours and 43 minutes. In service since 2022, the rover is still on its 37th lunar day and has traveled regarding 900 meters.
What will be the object on the Moon?
The “cube”, or whatever mysterious object on the Moon, is found in Kármán Crater. The stakes for him are quite banal.
It’s not much, he admits: it’s a rectangle in a low-resolution image, and it may just be an optical illusion. It wouldn’t be the first time: in 2022, the Yutu-2 probe had spotted what appeared to be a “gel-like substance” and, in the end, it was just pebbles. This year, a “fragment” was found and they were also stones (surprise).
The journalist himself thinks it must be just another rock, although it owes its peculiar shape to an asteroid impact. Anyone wanna bet?
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