Photo credit: CNET
Yutu-2 is a robotic lunar rover that was launched on the Chang’e 4 mission to the Moon December 7 2018. It made a successful soft landing on the Moon’s far side on January 3, 2019, and has been exploring its mysteries ever since. Recently, it came across a bizarre cube-shaped structure on the northern horizon, around 80km away in the Von Karman crater. The team controller the rover will spend the next 2-3 lunar days investigating it. Read more for additional information and a bonus video on another oddity it found.
Ah. We have an update from Yutu-2 on the lunar far side, including an image of a cubic shape on the northern horizon ~80m away from the rover in Von Kármán crater. Referred to as "神秘小屋" ("mystery house"), the next 2-3 lunar days will be spent getting closer to check it out. pic.twitter.com/LWPZoWN05I
— Andrew Jones (@AJ_FI) December 3, 2021
The rover is equipped with a Panoramic Camera (PCAM) on its mast that can rotate 360°, a Lunar penetrating radar (LPR) with a probing depth of approximately 30m with 30cm vertical resolution, a Visible and Near-Infrared Imaging Spectrometer (VNIS), and an Advanced Small Analyzer for Neutrals (ASAN). The latter is basically an energetic neutral atom analyzer provided by the Swedish Institute of Space Physics (IRF) to inspect how solar wind interacts with the lunar surface.
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