China’s lunar rover captured images of the moon’s end showing an elongated “landmark” rock on the lunar surface.
Yutu 2 saw the sharp structure coming out of the ground after waking from a 14-day sleep during the dangerously cold lunar night.
Scientists believe the unusual rock may have formed after numerous impacts exploded the rock from the surface until the pointed formation was left.
However, further analysis is needed to determine its exact origins and the plans of the National Space Administration of China (CNSA) to use the rover’s imaging capabilities to investigate its composition.
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China’s lunar rover captured images of the moon’s end showing an elongated “landmark” rock on the lunar surface. Yutu 2 saw the sharp structure protruding from the ground after waking from a 14-day sleep during the dangerous lunar night
The Chinese Chang’e-4 touched the moon in January 2019 and was the first to land at the far end of the moon.
Along the way are the Yutu 2 lander and rover, which have since transmitted images of the lunar surface that humans had never seen before.
Lander and rover objectives include analyzing the chemical differences between the Earth-oriented side of the Moon and the target area of the mission.
The Chang’e-4 lander and the Yutu 2 rover have recently spent 14 days wintering during the long lunar night to protect the mechanisms from freezing: temperatures can reach -310 degrees Fahrenheit.
Scientists believe the unusual rock may have formed after numerous impacts exploded the rock from the surface until the pointed formation was left.
However, further analysis is needed to determine its exact origins and the plans of the National Space Administration of China (CNSA) to use the rover’s imaging capabilities to investigate its composition.
After operating again on February 6, the rover continued its exploration of the farthest side and that was when it saw the unusual stalagmite.
CNSA has not yet revealed measurements of the rock, but plans to analyze it with the Yutu 2 visible and infrared imaging spectrometer instrument (VNIS) in hopes of discovering its composition and size.
Dan Moriarty, a fellow of NASA’s postdoctoral program at the Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, told Space.com: “Repeated impacts, stresses from thermal cycling and other forms of weathering on the lunar surface tend to decompose. the rocks in more -or less “spherical” shapes, long enough. “
Moriarty also told Space.com that, looking at the pointy shape of the rock and the steep “ridge” that runs along the edge, it is speculated that the rock is geologically young.
He also believes the landmark was created by spallation, which occurs when “intact rock fragments are blown from the nearby surface without experiencing the same degree of shock pressures that the immediate target suffers.”
The Chang’e-4 lander and the Yutu 2 rover have recently spent 14 days wintering during the long lunar night to protect the mechanisms from freezing: temperatures can reach -310 degrees Fahrenheit. After operating again on February 6, the rover continued its exploration of the farthest side and that was when it saw the unusual stalagmite.
The rover has traveled 2,060 feet across the lunar surface since it landed on January 3, 2019.
The Chinese space agency released a gallery of images captured by the rover in January 2020 to commemorate the one-year anniversary since the ship first landed on the moon.
Doug Ellison, who heads NASA’s Curiosity Mars Rover engineering camera team, processed the images and posted them on Twitter.
An image of the Chang’e-4 lunar landing with the pristine runways of the Yutu 2 rover came to life in color using sophisticated computer software.
The images were taken by the Chang’e-4 lander terrain camera and the Yutu rover 2 panoramic camera.
The data dump measured more than 10 GB and includes images taken during the first year in operation.
The rover has traveled 2,060 feet on the lunar surface since it landed on January 3, 2019
The Chinese space agency released a gallery of images captured by the rover in January 2020 to commemorate the one-year anniversary since the ship first landed on the moon. The image shows the footprints of the rover on the lunar surface and in the distance is the lander
The images were resubmitted with what appears to be black and white, but are actually incomplete color images.
Computer programs can be used to extract the true coloration.
Some of the images show views of the Von Karmer crater where the mission landed.
It is the largest impact crater in the entire solar system at 13 km deep and 2,500 km in diameter.
The farthest side of the moon, colloquially known as the dark side, actually gets as much light as the near side, but is always oriented toward the Earth.
This is because the moon is fixed to the Earth and rotates at the same rate as it revolves around our planet, so the farthest side, or the “dark side,” is never visible from our planet.
The Chang’e-4 lunar probe mission, named after the moon goddess in Chinese mythology, was launched last December from the southwestern Xichang launch center.
It is the second Chinese spacecraft to land on the moon, after the Yutu rover mission in 2013.