Moon mystery: China scientists baffled as ‘house’ spotted on far side of lunar surface

NASA share the preparation ahead of Artemis I's moon launch

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Experts were left baffled when it snapped a strange cube-shaped object in distance roughly 260 feet (80 meters) away in November, according to a diary note. It was published by Our Space, a Chinese language science outreach channel associated with the China National Space Administration (CNSA). The object has been dubbed as “mystery house” until experts can get a better look at it. Andrew Jones, who covers China’s space activities, said of the latest discovery: “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 a mystery house, the next two to three lunar days will be spent getting closer to check it out.”

Scientists have been left baffled by the object and Yutu 2 is now expected to spend up to three Earth months investigating it.

It is thought that the mystery shape is most likely to be a large boulder that was excavated by an impact event.

China’s solar-powered Yutu 2 and Chang’e 4 lander made the first-ever landing on the far side of the Moon back in January 2019.

The rover has been traversing the surface of the Moon’s 115-mile-wide (186 kilometres) Von Kármán crater since it first landed.

The latest discovery comes as the space rivalry between the US and China heated up after a top Chinese scientist said his country might be able to send astronauts to the Moon for the first time by 2030.

It’s been just weeks since US President Joe Biden’s top space official set out a similar timetable for new American lunar exploration.

Chinese Academy of Sciences member Ye Peijian said: “As long as the technological research for manned Moon landing continues, and as long as the country is determined, it is entirely possible for China to land people on the moon before 2030.”

Chang’e 4 is China’s fourth Moon mission.

It is the second mission that has put a rover on the Moon.

The first two Chang’e missions were orbiters, with Chang’e 3 landing on the near side of the Moon with the first Yutu rover.

China has also launched the Chang’e 5 T1 test mission around the Moon.

Back in October, it was discovered that China’s Chang’e 5 rock samples brought back from the Moon last December were thought to be the youngest ever lavas.

Analysis showed that the basalt material, which is the solidified remnants of a lava flow, was just two billion years old.

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When compared with rocks brought back from Apollo missions, China’s find was over a billion years younger, with all Apollo missions bringing back samples that were at least three billion years old.

China’s robotic Chang’e-5 mission was sent to a site on the lunar nearside called Oceanus Procellarum.

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