A Mysterious Hut Discovered On The Moon! Proof Of Alien Life?
If there is one common goal that humanity has been working towards it is space exploration and finding out extraterrestrial life. While not all countries might have been working together, some making more progress than others this has been their common goal and while the two of the biggest space powers right now are the United States and Russia, China is right there behind them on the third spot. And we mention China because their rover had made a rather interesting observation on the surface of the moon. And it is not a new element or something with regards to the moon’s history but a...hut? What is the mysterious moon hut? Is this really some sort of a building and proof of alien life? And why have some researchers accused it of being nothing more than clickbait? Read on to find out more!
China’s Rover
The Chinese rover named Yutu 2, which in Mandarin means “jade rabbit”, was launched from the country’s Chang’e 4 lunar lander and had landed on the far side of the moon in January 2019. Not that long ago the rover had begun its 37th lunar day. During that time, the rover has been taking detailed scans beneath the moon’s surface and had spotted some other mysteries. Most recently, Yutu 2 has been exploring the moon’s southern hemisphere, aka the so-called invisible side. And it was then that it had observed the mysterious objects. What exactly does it look like? Read on to find out.
‘Mystery hut’ spotted on dark side of Moon - https://t.co/MGnd0Vseih -
— kashco.co.uk (@Kashco_co_uk) December 6, 2021
A Chinese Yutu 2 rover has spotted an odd object on the far side of the Moon, and it’s been described in initial reports by media outlets as a “mystery hut.” Yutu 2 is now poised to take a closer look at... pic.twitter.com/NppINO6fq3
Exploring the crater
Recently, Yutu 2 has been exploring the Von Kármán crater which is a large impact crater that is located on the dark side of the moon. It is about 115-mile-wide (186 km) in diameter and is a part of a huge impact basin known as the South Pole-Aitken basin, which in itself is about 2500 km in diameter and about 13 km deep. A fun fact is that this impact basin is so large it occupies around 23% of the moon circumference. And it was in that crater, at the start of the rovers 36th lunar day that looking north, it spotted the mysterious object and sent an alarm alerting the researchers at the space station.
Where would Jack Schmitt send a hypothetical Apollo 18? Somewhere in South-Pole Aitken Basin, the Moon's largest observed impact structure with about 2200 km diameter. #LPSC2018pic.twitter.com/pIT9897w7E
— NASA's Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (@LRO_NASA) March 21, 2018
The Mysterious Hut
When Chinese researchers viewed the images sent by Yutu 2 they were surprised to find a “mysterious hut” in the distance of the crater. The China National Space Administration outreach program Our Space took to the Chinese social network Weixin on December 3rd to announce the discovery. They revealed that the object is about 260 feet (80 meters) away from the Yutu 2 rover. In their post, the researchers revealed that the strange irregularity in the landscape was seen sticking out above an otherwise unremarkable horizon, with a small impact crater next to it. But what could it be? Read on to find out.
China's Yutu 2 rover spots cube-shaped 'mystery hut' on far side of the moon https://t.co/SvPNd6Mcidpic.twitter.com/KqjockNbnm
— SPACE.com (@SPACEdotcom) December 5, 2021
Speculation About The Object
Of course the main question everyone has about this cube shape is, what the hell is it? Even the Our Space researchers had jokingly asked if it was a home built by aliens after a crash landing or if it was a pioneer spacecraft of the predecessors who used it to explore the moon? Of course, the internet had its say about the mysterious hut, some had been referencing movies and making jokes, and one user wrote, “It looks like a stage, or a set, where they might have faked the moon landing.” Others had been making jokes that it’s nothing more than Elon Musk setting up camp, or that it might be aliens.
When Will We Find Out What It Is?
After discovering such an unusual object, the next logical thing is to get closer and find out exactly what it is. That is exactly what the researchers aim to do. But there is a catch. The rover is powered by solar energy so it stops working for the duration of each lunar night. And given that a lunar 24 hours is equal to a month on Earth, Yutu 2 turns itself off every 2 weeks for that duration. In addition to it, the rover is turned off when the sun passes directly over it to prevent overheating and damage to it. And if that wasn’t enough, it moves very slowly to avoid suffering any damage while traveling through the moon’s unknown terrain covered in debris and craters. So scientists estimate that it might take another 2-3 months until we will get a better idea of what the mystery hut is. Researchers already have an idea what it is but could it be aliens? Find out on the next page.
What Could The Mystery Hut Be?
Of course, such a discovery is very exciting and has already had people’s imaginations running wild. However, if you are expecting some alien monoliths or a literal hut you might be in for a disappointment. Despite joking that this could be aliens the Chinese astronomers had noted that a relatively fresh impact crater was observed near this “hut” and they reckon that the visible object might just be a boulder that has been ejected during the impact and they noted that similar phenomena have been previously observed on the moon before. While a big rock might not be as exciting as actual extraterrestrial beings, research on it could result in many interesting discoveries. Especially if this rock has come from beneath the surface as that could shed some new light on our knowledge of the inner structure of the Silver globe that we see in our night sky.
Space Image of the Day #8 ?Why does the right part of this image of the Moon stand out? Shadows. The terminator line -- the line between light and dark -- occurs in the featured image so that just over half the Moon's face is illuminated by sunlight. The lunar surface appears pic.twitter.com/U19Q49HCyh
— Radiocom1G (@Radiocom1G) December 8, 2021
Not Yutu 2’s Only Discovery
However, it is worth pointing out that this is not Yutu 2’s only discovery on the surface of the moon! On its 8th lunar day, the rover had stumbled upon a surprise that prompted the astronomers to postpone other driving plans they had for it and focus on the new discovery. And what was it? According to Live Science, it was an unusually colored, gel-like substance. When the discovery was made, the Our Space team was planning on shutting down the rover for its midday nap however when they spotted a small crater that seemed to contain the substance they had to examine it. They did so using Yutu 2’s Visible and Near-Infrared Spectrometer (VNIS) which is used to detect light that is scattered or reflected off materials to reveal its makeup. While scientists aren’t 100% exactly what the substance is, they think it might be the lunar rock that has been melted into glass by the energy of an asteroid impact.
The mysterious "gel-like" substance found on the Moon by the Yutu-2 rover is probably impact glass. But China's space agency has still not revealed details. https://t.co/YahgHCAMJ2pic.twitter.com/m6WepE09EE
— Corey S. Powell (@coreyspowell) September 21, 2019
Just Click Bait?
While there has been much excitement over the discovery of the hut, there has also been some criticism. Philip Stooke, professor emeritus and adjunct research professor in the Department of Geography and Institute for Earth and Space Exploration at the University of Western Ontario, had agreed that the cubed object is not a building but a rock but he had also criticized the Chinese press. He went on to say that Chinese media have been eager to find all sorts of strange things on the moon. He went on to add that we tend to think that their press is tightly controlled however there is a ton of stuff spinning every news item into sensational headlines such as alien bases, millions of tons of priceless metals, or unspecified substances, conspiracies about western interests in space and everything else. Further on, he went to add, “I am not surprised that a rock which, in low-resolution images, looks roughly square and is played up as a hut or other type of building.”
Earth seen from the surface of the Moon by Apollo 17 Astronaut Gene Cernan - From Raziel Abulafia (@apollosearth) - https://t.co/yt9iP87LMSpic.twitter.com/Kzc9Ns4PRK
— Hourly Cosmos (@hourlycosmos) December 5, 2021
Future Plans From China
While we only have to wait a few months to find out what this cube shape in the distance is the Chinese researchers had already made their future plans public. The Chang’e 4 has been the country’s fourth mission to the moon and their second to land a rover on its surface. Earlier this year they had also landed its Zhurong rover on Mars and are building their Tiangong space station which should be completed by the end of 2022. However, in some more ambitious plans, China has declared that they will establish a lunar research station on the moon’s south pole by 2029.
What do you think the mystery hut-like object really is? Let us know in the comments and if you enjoyed this article do not hesitate to share it with your friends and leave a Like on our Facebook page!
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