The mystery of the hidden corner of the Moon

One of the most fundamental questions that space scientists are still trying to answer is: How was the moon formed?

When the Chang'e-4 mission landed in Von Karman crater on January 3, 2019, China became the first and only country to land on the far side of the Moon - the side that always faces away. far from Earth. Now, China is sending another mission to that remote region, and this time, their goal is to bring back the first samples from the far side of the Moon to Earth.

There is no true 'dark side'

The Chang'e-6 mission is expected to spend 53 days exploring the South Pole-Aitken basin (the far side of the Moon) to study geology and topography as well as collect samples from various points across the crater.

Mr. Li Chunlai - Deputy Director of Design of the China National Space Administration said: 'The far side of the Moon is very different from the near side. Essentially, the far region includes the ancient lunar crust and the highlands, so there are a lot of scientific questions to be answered there.'

The name the Moon's hidden side, sometimes called the 'dark side of the Moon', is considered by experts to be a bit of a misnomer for several reasons.

Exploring the Moon has always been the goal of space scientists. (Photo: NASA).

Although the far side of the Moon appears dark from our perspective, it experiences the same lunar day and night as the near side, even receiving much light. According to NASA, a day on the Moon lasts longer than 29 Earth days, while nights only last about 2 weeks.

"Humans always want to know what is on the other side of the mountain and the part that we cannot see, so that is a type of psychodynamic psychology".

Several spacecraft, including NASA's Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter, continuously orbit and photograph the Moon's surface, helping to unravel the mysteries of the Moon. Yutu-2 , a lunar probe that Chang'e-4 launched in 2019, also explored scattered rock and dust deposits across the Von Karman crater, located in the Antarctic-Aitken basin.

But bringing the samples back to Earth will allow the newest and most sensitive technology to analyze lunar rocks and dust, potentially revealing how the Moon formed and why the far side is different from the far side. near the.

Mystery in the distance

Despite orbital data and samples collected during six Apollo missions over the years, scientists are still trying to answer important questions about the Moon.

Noah Petro, of NASA's project for both the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter and Artemis III, which aims to land humans on the moon for the first time since 1972, said: 'The reason the far side is so fascinating is because it is so different from the side of the Moon that we see. Throughout human history, people have looked at the same surface, the same side of the Moon'.

But in 1959, the Soviet Union sent a probe to fly over the far side of the Moon and capture humanity's first images of it. 'We see this hemisphere is completely different: not covered by large volcanic lava flows, pockmarked with craters and the crust is thicker' - Mr. Petro said.

According to Petro, taking samples with robotic missions and bringing humans closer to the transition point between the two lunar regions at the south pole through the Artemis program will help tell a fuller story of the Moon's history that we know. We are lacking right now.

Professor Malhotra said that although scientists understand why one side of the Moon is always facing Earth, they do not know why that side is permanently facing our planet. It may be related to the Moon's asymmetry. 'There is some asymmetry between the two sides of the Moon. What exactly causes those asymmetries? What exactly are these asymmetries? We have very little understanding of that. That's a big scientific question'.

Orbital data also revealed that the near side has a thinner crust and more volcanic sediment, but said Brett Denevi, a planetary geologist at Johns Hopkins University's Applied Physics Laboratory. The answer to why this is so remains beyond the understanding of researchers.

Chang'e-6 is just one mission to the far side of the Moon as NASA also plans to send robotic missions there. Mr. Denevi helped design the mission concept for the lunar rover called Endurance , which will make a long trip across the Antarctic-Aitken basin to collect data and samples before delivering them to the site Artemis landing near the Moon's South Pole. Astronauts can then study the samples and determine which ones will return to Earth.

NASA scientist Petro said: 'When impacts happen on the Moon, it also happens on Earth at the same time. So the fact that we're studying these ancient events on the Moon means we're also learning a little bit about what's happening on Earth.'

According to Professor Malhotra, the Antarctic-Aitken basin expedition could be the first step to solving countless mysteries about the Moon. While researchers believe they have an idea of ​​when the crater formed, perhaps 4.3 billion to 4.4 billion years ago, collecting rock samples could provide a key age. body.