NASA is about to study the mysterious rock dome on the Moon

Gruithuisen Dome on the Moon.

NASA's Artemis mission has the main goal of sending astronauts to the Moon to establish the first long-term settlement and learn the conditions necessary to send people to Mars. In addition, the program also plans a variety of science activities, including launching two instruments Lunar Vulkan Imaging and Spectroscopy Explorer (Lunar-VISE) and Lunar Explorer Instrument for space biology Applications (LEIA) to the Moon for exploration. Gruithuisen arch, a geological feature that has puzzled researchers for many years. The duo of devices will provide important data for NASA scientists.

According to Joel Kearns, deputy director of discovery at NASA's Science Mission Steering Committee, the study will first look at the geological record of early celestial bodies stored on the Moon by viewing Consider a rare type of volcano. The second study will explore the effects of low gravity on the Moon and radiation environment on yeast, thereby identifying DNA damage and repair.

Lunar-VISE will probe the top of the Gruithuisen dome for 10 days. The researchers believe that the Gruithuisen dome was born from a viscous magma rich in silica with a granite-like composition. Lunar-VISE will explore how these domes form without liquid water or plate tectonics. This is a great mystery to space scientists.

Observations from the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) confirmed that the Gruithuisen dome is different from the surrounding terrain, which has been covered with basaltic lava flows that have hardened since ancient times. What baffles researchers is how silicon-containing magma formed on the Moon. On Earth, silicon volcanoes often form when two conditions exist: water and plate tectonics. But on the Moon, these essential conditions are absent.

The LEIA instrument will conduct biological research on the Moon by feeding the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae and learning how it responds to the Moon's radiation and gravity. The data collected by the mission will complement information from previous biological studies, helping scientists determine the effects of radiation and gravity on the human body.