Tag: moon

Bizarre and Outlandish Claims and Conspiracies of the Moon

There is little doubt that the Moon is one of the most fascinating objects in the night sky. It is also at the center of some of the most outrageous and bizarre claims and conspiracies on record, not least just why NASA has not returned since the last moon landing in December 1972. Some of these conspiracies suggest there are the remains of alien bases and technology on the Moon, while others go even further and suggest there is an extraterrestrial presence on our cosmic satellite. Some researchers have even suggested that the Moon is not a natural satellite at all, but some kind of mechanical construct designed and built at an unknown location and placed in orbit by an unknown intelligence.

The fact is, though, even without these conspiracies, the Moon is a celestial body full of anomalies. While some people might be familiar with them, before we explore some of these outrageous conspiracies and claims of our celestial satellite, it is worth quickly going over some of the truly anomalous facts about the Moon.

It is, for example, exactly 400 times smaller than the sun, and its distance from the Earth, relative to the overall distance to the sun, is also exactly 1/400th. It is worth noting that these figures are not approximate – they are exact. It is because of these astounding dimensions that total eclipses are experienced here on Earth. Moreover, if these dimensions were out in any way whatsoever, this wouldn’t be possible. Incidentally, we should also take note that the chances of these specific dimensions occurring naturally are zillions to one. What’s more, these figures and dimensions are not seen in any other known moon. Even its perfectly circular orbit is unique (most moons’ orbits are elliptical) and its rotation around the planet is such that one side permanently remains hidden from us.

Looking a little closer, the many craters on the lunar surface create further problems in our understanding of the Moon. These craters, of which there are many, are for the most part, very similar in depth, and relatively shallow at that. In terms of our understanding of modern science, these craters should be much more varied, with at least some showing greater depth at the impact point, which should be the outcome for a naturally formed rocky terrestrial body. Many researchers suggest that it is the absolute high velocity of the meteor strikes that creates these crater anomalies. However, the actual reason for this, at least according to some researchers, both inside and outside the mainstream, is because the Moon is not naturally occurring at all, but a hollow object with a metallic “casing” beneath an artificial rocky surface.  

Perhaps one of the most interesting considerations is how the Moon came to orbit the Earth in the first place. Accepted thinking suggests a small planet or large moon collided with Earth millions of years ago, causing the Moon to form out of the debris of such a collision, which then settled into its current orbit. However, not only because of the remarkable zillion-to-one dimensions and distances of the Moon we highlighted earlier but also because of several other anomalies, many people question just how true it is that the Moon was simply a “happy accident” and a product of coincidence. In fact, some people have even questioned if the Moon was purposely “placed” into orbit, perhaps even by an unknown intelligence. Author William Roy Shelton stated:

“It is important to remember that something had to put the moon in or near its current circular pattern around the Earth. It is very unlikely that any object just stumbles on the right combination of factors needed to help an object stay in orbit. ‘Something’ had to put the moon on its altitude, on its course and speed. The question is, what was that ‘something?”

Issac Asimov, a Russian professor of biochemistry, made similar comments when he wrote:

“… we cannot help but come to the conclusion that the Moon, by rights, ought not to be there. The fact that it is, is one of those strokes of luck almost too good to accept…Small planets, such as Earth, with weak gravitational fields, might well lack satellites…In general, then, when a planet does have satellites, those satellites are much smaller than the planet itself. Therefore, there would be every reason to suspect (the Moon) would be a tiny world, perhaps 30 miles…but it is a giant satellite, 2,160 miles in diameter. How is it, then, that tiny Earth has one?”

There are plenty of other people who have expressed similar sentiments. NASA scientist, Robin Brett stated that “it seems easier to explain the non-existence of the Moon than its existence,” while Irwin Shapiro from the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics offered that “the best explanation for the Moon is an observational error!”

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CHINA DETECTS WATER IN SAMPLES IT COLLECTED FROM THE MOON

Scientists have discovered traces of water while analyzing lunar soil samples collected by China’s Chang’e-5 rover.

While NASA already announced the discovery of water on the Moon’s sunlit areas back in 2020, the new research suggests that water can take on even more forms than previously thought on the lunar surface.

As detailed in a paper published in the journal Nature Astronomy, the samples “revealed the presence of trace water,” tantalizing evidence that “water molecules can persist in sunlit areas of the moon in the form of hydrated salts.”

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NASA RADAR DATA CONFIRMS EXISTENCE OF SUBSURFACE “TUNNEL” NEAR FAMOUS APOLLO-ERA LUNAR LANDING SITE

For the first time, scientists have confirmed the existence of an underground tunnel-like feature near the landing site of the first crewed mission to the Moon. The discovery concludes almost half a century of speculation involving the suspected existence of caves below the lunar surface.

On July 20, 1969, astronauts Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin became the first humans to set foot on the lunar surface after making a soft landing in the Apollo 11 Lunar Module on the mare plain of the Moon’s famous Mare Tranquillitatis, Latin for “Sea of Tranquility.”

Now, according to the findings of an international team of researchers led by the University of Trento in Italy, the existence of a subsurface tunnel-like lava tube cave beneath the Mare Plain has been confirmed.

A new study published in the journal Nature Astronomy revealed the discovery, which relied on data obtained with NASA’s Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO).

The discovery of the tunnel-like feature has been called a significant milestone toward understanding the Moon’s various geological components more fully. It also offers a potential shelter area that could be used by astronauts during future crewed missions.

Lorenzo Bruzzone, a professor at the University of Trento, said the existence of such underground features had long been suspected, although the team’s discovery is the first confirmation that they exist.

“These caves have been theorized for over 50 years,” Bruzzone said in a statement, “but it is the first time ever that we have demonstrated their existence.”

Data originally obtained in 2010 by the Miniature Radio-Frequency (Mini-RF) instrument aboard the LRO, which included radar reflections from a pit discovered in the Mare Tranquilitatis, were reexamined by the research team.

“Thanks to the analysis of the data, we were able to create a model of a portion of the conduit,” said Leonardo Carrer, a researcher at the University of Trento involved with the new findings.

“The most likely explanation for our observations is an empty lava tube,” Carrer said.

Given the demanding environment on the surface of the Moon, where temperatures can reach as much as 127°C on its illuminated side while dropping to frigid lows nearing -173°C on the unilluminated side, lava tube caves could be ideal locations for astronauts to use as shelters on the Moon.

In addition to being ideal environments for subsurface shelters, such an underground tunnel-like feature could also provide a degree of shielding from cosmic and solar radiation that bombards the lunar surface, which can be up to 150 times more powerful there than on Earth.

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Party of Science: Dem. Congresswoman Says Moon Is Made of Gas

Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee, D–Texas, recently told teenagers at an eclipse-viewing event on Apr. 8, 2024, that the moon was made up of “gases” and that she still wants to be among the first people who live there.

Jackson Lee, 74, gave a speech to a crowd of teenage students outside of Houston’s Booker T. Washington High School, during which she made several scientifically dubious comments ahead of the celestial phenomenon, according to the Daily Wire.

“You’ve heard the word ‘full moon.’ Sometimes you need to take the opportunity just to come out and see a full moon is that completely rounded circle, which is made up mostly of gases. And that’s why the question is why or how could we as humans live on the moon? Are the gases such that we could do that?” she said.

After asking her rhetorical questions, Jackson Lee continued her speech.

“The sun is a mighty powerful heat, but it’s almost impossible to go near the sun. The moon is more manageable. And you will see in a moment — not a moment, you will see in a couple of years, that NASA is going back to the moon,” she said.

Additionally, the politician claimed that the moon gave off “unique light and energy” and gave an even stranger description of why the solar eclipse was happening, the news source reported.

“I don’t think we’ve been on the moon the last 50 years. So we will be landing on the moon. What you’ll see today will be the closest distance that the moon has ever been in the last 20 years. Which means that’s why they will shut the light down because they will be close to the Earth,” she said.

Jackson Lee then talked about how she wanted to be among the first people who would live on the moon.

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Strange Reflective ‘Anomalies’ on the Moon Are a Mystery, Scientists Say

Moon dust has fascinated scientists ever since Neil Armstrong scooped up a vial of the stuff back in 1969. The jagged and statically charged lunar dust provides clues about the moon’s early formation, and tells us about our own geologic history and that of the inner solar system.

Now, planetary scientists have discovered strange “anomalies” in sun-reflecting particles covering meter-wide moon rocks. This research, published in the Journal of Geophysical Research – Planets, could help scientists understand more about the processes that formed and changed the moon’s crust and created unexplained magnetic anomalies. But, for now at least, the odd rocks and dust particles remain an unsolved mystery.

Researchers came across these extraterrestrial dust bunnies while trawling a catalog of images taken by NASA’s Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter spacecraft. They used artificial intelligence to go through the more than a million images and narrow rocks of interest down to around 130,000.

“We keep finding unknown objects in this way, such as the anomalous rocks that we are investigating in this new study,” said study co-author Valentin Bickel, from the University of Bern, in a press statement. 

They saw that some rocks around the Reiner K crater—a smaller impact crater near the larger Reiner crater on the western side of the moon—had noticeable dark patches on them. “Normally, lunar dust is very porous and reflects a lot of light back in the direction of illumination,” explained Marcel Hess, an image analyst from the Technische Universität Dortmund. “However, when the dust is compacted, the overall brightness usually increases. This is not the case with the observed dust-covered rocks.”

The team described the rocks’ strange light-reflecting properties using a technique called photometric analysis, which measures how light reflects off objects. 

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Russia heads back to the Moon with Luna 25

Russia’s space agency successfully launched a robotic spacecraft Thursday on a journey to the Moon, the country’s first lunar explorer since the Soviet Union’s Luna 24 sample return mission in 1976.

The Luna 25 mission lifted off from the Vostochny Cosmodrome, located in Russia’s Far East, at 7:10 pm ET (23:10 UTC). Heading east, a Soyuz-2.1b rocket propelled Luna 25 through an overcast cloud deck and into the stratosphere, then shed its four first-stage boosters about two minutes into the flight. A core stage engine fired a few minutes longer, and the Soyuz rocket jettisoned its payload shroud.

A third-stage engine fired next, then gave way to a Fregat upper-stage to place Luna 25 in orbit around Earth. The Fregat engine fired a second time to send the nearly 4,000-pound (1.8-metric ton) lunar probe on a roughly five-day trip toward the Moon. Russia’s space agency, Roscosmos, declared the launch a success less than 90 minutes after liftoff, shortly after the Luna 25 spacecraft separated from the Fregat upper stage.

This is historic for Russia’s space program. Russia hasn’t launched a lunar mission in nearly 50 years and hasn’t had a mission successfully fly to any other planetary body since 1988, despite several attempts. Thursday’s launch was a major moment for Luna 25, but its departure from Earth on a reliable and proven Soyuz rocket was not the riskiest part of the mission. That will come in a couple of weeks when Luna 25 begins its powered descent toward the lunar surface.

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China may be plotting moon takeover – NASA

China might be contemplating a “takeover” of the Moon as part of its military space program, NASA’s administrator Bill Nelson has told newspaper Bild.

In an interview published on Saturday, Nelson claimed that the United States is now involved in a new race to space, with China this time. He emphasized that in 2035 Beijing might finish construction of its own Moon station and start experiments a year later.

79-year-old Nelson claimed that we must be very concerned about China landing on the Moon and saying that it now belongs to the Peoples’ Republic and everyone else should stay out.

Claiming that China’s space program is a “military” space program, Nelson explained that the competition for the south pole of the moon is especially intense: potential water deposits there could be used in the future for rocket-fuel production.

When asked by Bild what military purposes could China be pursuing in space, Nelson claimed that Chinese astronauts are busy learning how to destroy other countries’ satellites.

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‘Mystery rocket’ that crashed into the Moon baffles NASA scientists

NASA has discovered the crash site of a “mystery rocket body” that collided with the Moon’s surface earlier this year. The impact left behind a widespread “double crater,” meaning it wasn’t the average rocket. 

However, since its crash landing, none of Earth’s space-exploring nations have claimed responsibility for the mysterious projectile, leaving NASA scientists baffled as to who was behind its launch. New images shared on June 24 by NASA’s Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter show the unusual impact site.

“Surprisingly the crater is actually two craters, an eastern crater (18-meter diameter, about 19.5 yards) superimposed on a western crater (16-meter diameter, about 17.5 yards,” NASA reported. “The double crater was unexpected…No other rocket body impacts on the Moon created double craters.” 

Astronomers anticipated the crash after spotting the unidentified rocket on a collision course with the Moon late last year. It finally hit on March 4 near the Hertzsprung crater, a “complex” impact crater on the far side of the Moon. 

NASA stated that the two large masses on each end of the rocket may have caused the craters, but noted that the impact marks are highly unusual. Spent rockets, according to NASA, tend to have a heavy motor at one end and a lighter empty fuel tank on the other, scientists say. The space agency did not offer any guesses on what the additional mass was. 

“Since the origin of the rocket body remains uncertain, the double nature of the crater may indicate its identity,” NASA said in a news release.

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The US Space Force plans to start patrolling the area around the Moon

This week, the US Air Force Research Laboratory released a video on YouTube that didn’t get much attention. But it made an announcement that is fairly significant—the US military plans to extend its space awareness capabilities beyond geostationary orbit, all the way to the Moon.

“Until now, the United States space mission extended 22,000 miles above Earth,” a narrator says in the video. “That was then, this is now. The Air Force Research Laboratory is extending that range by 10 times and the operations area of the United States by 1,000 times, taking our reach to the far side of the Moon into cislunar space.”

The US military had previously talked about extending its operational domain, but now it is taking action. It plans to launch a satellite, likely equipped with a powerful telescope, into cislunar space. According to the video, the satellite will be called the Cislunar Highway Patrol System or, you guessed it, CHPS. The research laboratory plans to issue a “request for prototype proposals” for the CHPS satellite on March 21 and announce the contract award in July. The CHPS program will be managed by Michael Lopez, from the lab’s Space Vehicles Directorate. (Alas, we were rooting for Erik Estrada).

This effort will include the participation of several military organizations, and it can be a little confusing to keep track of. Essentially, though, the Air Force lab will oversee the development of the satellite. The US Space Force will then procure this capability for use by the US Space Command, which is responsible for military operations in outer space. Effectively, this satellite is the beginning of an extension of operations by US Space Command from geostationary space to beyond the Moon.

“It’s the first step for them to be able to know what’s going on in cislunar space and then identify any potential threats to US activities,” said Brian Weeden, director of program planning for the Secure World Foundation.

Weeden said he does not think the CHPS satellite will include capabilities to respond to any threats but will serve primarily to provide situational awareness.

So why is US Space Command interested in expanding its theater of operations to include the Moon? The primary reason cited in the video is managing increasing space traffic in the lunar environment, including several NASA-sponsored commercial missions, the space agency’s Artemis program, and those of other nations. It’s going to get crowded out there. A recent report by the Center for Strategic & International Studies, Fly Me to the Moon, examines the dozens of missions planned to the Moon over the next decade.

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Moon ‘mystery hut’ is just a rabbit-shaped rock, Chinese rover finds

China’s Yutu 2 rover has reached the so-called “mystery hut” on the far side of the moon that attracted widespread attention last month — but don’t get too excited.

After driving for nearly two lunar days (each lasting around two weeks on Earth and separated by a two-week night), the solar-powered Yutu 2 got close enough to get clear images of the object. 

The new images, published by Ourspace, a Chinese language science outreach channel affiliated with the China National Space Administration (CNSA,) reveal a small rock near the rim of a crater, with Yutu 2’s drive team describing it as a “jade rabbit” (玉兔/yutu) for its resemblance to a rabbit about to eat. Jade Rabbit is a figure from Chinese mythology that lives on the moon with Chang-e, the goddess of the moon. China’s moon exploration missions are named for Chang’e and its two lunar rovers for Jade Rabbit.

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