Unknown substance found Chinese rover on the moon

Unknown substance found Chinese rover on the moon

2 September 2019, 13:10
A source: © popmech.ru
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Photo © popmech.ru

The Chinese lunar rover Yut-2 managed to discover something unusual on the far side of the moon. At the bottom of a small, recently discovered crater, the apparatus came across an unknown substance. It is reported that it is gelatinous and bright.

Chinese scientists do not make any assumptions about its nature. This should be preceded by full-fledged research. Foreign experts, however, believe that this is molten glass, which was formed as a result of a meteorite falling on the lunar surface.

On June 28, 2019, Chinese scientists were preparing to put the Yutu-2 rover into sleep mode. But one of them noticed something incomprehensible in the panoramic picture taken by this device in the lunar crater.

It was decided to send the rover for further investigation of the newly discovered object. The strange bright substance differed from the surrounding regolith in shape, color and structure. Investigation of the crater and, accordingly, finds was carried out using the Visible and Near-Infrared Spectrometer (VNIS) tool. It analyzes the light reflected by the surface and determines the chemical composition.

At the moment, the substance discovered by Chinese scientists has not yet been described. They only indicate that it is gel-like and has a strange sheen.

The rover "Yutu-2" was led into "sleep" mode on August 7, 2019. On August 25, he was returned to work again and continued to study the lunar surface in a westerly direction. He landed on January 3, 2019 - along with Chang'e-4 station - the first station to make a soft landing on the far side of the moon.
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