The "strange object" on the moon discovered by China's Yutu-2 rover was nicknamed the "mystery hut" or "moon cube" due to its cuboid appearance in initial images, sparking speculation, but it turned out to be a large, naturally occurring boulder, likely unearthed by an impact, that only looked like a hut or cube due to distance, lighting, and low-resolution images, a phenomenon known as pareidolia.
Sifting through the first-ever rock samples collected from the far side of the Moon, scientists in China have unearthed a surprise: fragments of a rare type of meteorite that could help to piece together the Solar System's history.
Harrison Schmitt, the only geologist to walk on the Moon (Apollo 17), famously discovered "orange soil" (volcanic glass beads) at Shorty Crater, providing key evidence for ancient lunar volcanism and volatile elements, and also collected important rocks like Troctolite 76535, suggesting the Moon once had a magnetic field. His finds confirmed volcanic activity and offered insights into the Moon's formation, including unexpected volatile elements that challenged existing models.
The Chinese probe Chang'E 6, launched on 3rd May 3 2024, brought back to Earth the first samples from the far side of the Moon. It carried DORN, the first French instrument to operate on the Moon's surface; its mission was to measure radon (a radioactive gas continuously produced in regolith).
It's the first confirmed debris of a type of meteorite known as Ivuna-type carbonaceous chondrite – or CI chondrite – ever to be found on the Moon, demonstrating that fragile, water-bearing asteroids can leave microscopic traces embedded in the lunar regolith.
From their orbital altitude of 69 statute miles, Frank Borman, Jim Lovell and William Anders were able to describe the surface of the moon in detail. "The back side [of the moon] looks like a sand pile my kids have played in for some time. It's all beat up, no definition, just a lot of bumps and holes."
Apollo 17 became the last crewed mission to the Moon for an indefinite amount of time. The main reason for this was money. The cost of getting to the Moon was, ironically, astronomical.
Allnut, concluded in a 1970 letter, "after fifteen years of manned space voyages including space stations and landing on the Moon, spacemen have brought back not a shred of evidence – verbal, photographic, or otherwise – for the existence of extraterrestrial spacecraft, or 'UFOs'."
If you're planning to drink the moon water, just be sure the water is potable, meaning safe and clean. 2. Find a spot where the moon shines brightest. Put your jar of water somewhere it can absorb the light of the moon with the least obstruction.
The discovery was made by researchers at the Beijing Research Institute of Uranium Geology who found a single crystal of Changesite–(Y) using X-ray diffraction while studying particles collected on the moon.
Chinese scientists have achieved a major breakthrough in nuclear fusion research using the Experimental Advanced Superconducting Tokamak (EAST), also known as the “artificial sun.” On January 20, 2025, they successfully sustained plasma at a temperature of over 100 million degrees Celsius for 1,066 seconds (around 18 ...
The dark side of the Moon is more lumpy than the near side, and covered in large craters. The biggest is called the South Pole-Aitken Basin (SPA Basin), which is 2,500 kilometres in diameter. This is about the same length as five Grand Canyons all lined up in a row.
31. The astronaut trio was sent to replace the Shenzhou-20 crew — Wang Jie, Chen Zhongrui and Chen Dong — who were originally scheduled to return home on Nov. 5, after completing a six-month stay in space.
“The far side of the moon is very different from the near side,” said Li Chunlai, China National Space Administration deputy chief designer. “The far is basically comprised of ancient lunar crust and highlands, so there are a lot of scientific questions to be answered there.”
Floating free against the velvety blackness of space was Bruce McCandless II. For the first time ever, a human being was able to perform a spacewalk while completely untethered thanks to the Manned Maneuvering Unit (MMU), a jetpack-like device McCandless helped develop for over a decade.
They added that the astronauts receive incidental amounts for each day they're in space—but since they're on long-term temporary duty, it's only about $5 per day. That's about $1,430 for the entire 286-day stay.
Yes, the 1972 "Blue Marble" is a real photograph of Earth, taken by the Apollo 17 crew on December 7, 1972, as they traveled to the Moon, providing humanity's first full, sunlit view of our planet as a single, colorful sphere. While the widely circulated version is cropped and rotated (with the South Pole facing up), it's a genuine snapshot from space, capturing Africa, Antarctica, and the Indian Ocean, and became a powerful symbol for the environmental movement.
The founder of astrogeology, Gene Shoemaker, is the only person to date whose ashes have been buried on the moon.
Well, life of some sort would probably exist on Earth, but humans almost certainly wouldn't. Think of the very long course of evolution, the small changes, the minute adaptations that organisms make to their environment.
There are six flags up there, planted between 1969 and 1972. Five are still standing. But time has taken its toll. Most experts agree those once-bright flags have likely turned white after decades of unfiltered ultraviolet light.
Return to the Moon
Artemis II, scheduled for launch between February and April sees the return of the first people to the Moon since Apollo 17 in 1972. Three American and one Canadian astronaut will orbit the Moon on a 10 day journey that lays the foundation for lunar landings in the coming years.
The other face, most of which is never visible from the Earth, is therefore called the "far side of the Moon". Over time, some crescent-shaped edges of the far side can be seen due to libration. In total, 59 percent of the Moon's surface is visible from Earth at one time or another.