China's lunar rover discovers strange substance on far side of the moon

[Cirque du So-What]

The Yutu-2 rover found something weird inside a crater.

China's Yutu-2 rover, launched as part of the Chang'e 4 mission, is the first ever robot to explore the far side of the moon. Since landing in January, it's snapped gorgeous views of the lunar surface and made one unexpected discovery. Now, its made another surprising find: hidden in a crater, Yutu-2 has discovered an unusual substance with a "gel-like" appearance.

According to a report by Space.com, the rover's surprise discovery was made during exploration activities on lunar day 8, which began on July 25. Each lunar day lasts for two Earth weeks and during this time the solar-powered rover carries out scientific observations, measuring radiation and surveying its surrounds.

Three days into day 8, a member of the Chang'e 4 team was reviewing images taken during by the rover and noticed a strangely colored material, distinct from the gray soil around it. Yutu-2 was scheduled to move on, but the team instead turned their attention toward the substance and sent the rover to the crater for a better look. The Yutu-2 "drive diary" says the team commanded the rover to point its spectrometer, a device which can evaluate the composition of materials, at the unusual substance.

more...

https://www.cnet.com/news/chinas-lunar-rover-discovers-strange-substance-on-far-side-of-the-moon/

Is the moon a giant cream puff, and is this crater where the pastry filling nozzle was inserted? Asking for a friend.

[Ferrets are Cool]

1. I thought it was gonna be an old 8-track tape of Pink Floyd. nt

[snowybirdie]

2. Never heard the Chinese

had a vehicle on the moon. Guess the news is too busy covering the Orange One 24/7 to let us know what's happening elsewhere. We've lost something very important here because of him. We all have no idea about the rest of the world anymore.

[Wounded Bear]

4. That's kind of the goal of isolationism...

Can't be the greatest if those other guys are achieving scientific success while we're Trumperbating.

[Igel]

11. Wasn't hard to see.

Made Big News for a few days--largely of the sort "we can't do anything right, we should welcome our Sinitic overlords" variety.

Then it vanished.

This probe has two features. The first is that it's in a different area of the Moon, with different geology. And the second is that it required landing in a location with no direct radio link, so the instructions had to be relayed through satellites orbiting the Moon.

As it is, the news is of the following type: "Scientists have reported something amazing. They won't say what it is, and won't share a picture, but trust them, it's amazing!" It's People science. Or, since it's China, let's call it The People's science, where "the people" is defined as a small group of rulers which, in the west, would be deemed an oligarchy.

[Hortensis]

12. It's covered, Birdie. Just not on the boob tube's political networks.

And perhaps not on the network evening "news" shows either? I only watch those to see what they're covering, not for the news itself. After all, those are now all about creating viewerships to sell to advertisers, and they do that by sandwiching thin skims of news stories (selected and styled to keep their boobs coming back) between thick slabs of commercial time.

BUT, reality is that we've never before had the tiniest fraction of the real news that is available to us today. And genuine investigative journalism, once dying, is huge. No one's forcing anyone to ignore it.

Go take a look at any national paper's on-line menu for its list of sections, and then the subsections for each of those. Opening an article usually reveals suggestions and links to other related articles.

That's just on-line newspapers as one real news medium.

[sinkingfeeling]

3. Come on, it's got to be cheese.

[DBoon]

5. I bet it is steamed bao

somewhere on the far side of the moon is s dim-sum cart

Yes I am hungry right now

[mainer]

6. Meanwhile, Americans believe China steals our technology

China is moving ahead of us in so many ways. Try and find an American-made drone that can match China's DJI drones.

[Cirque du So-What]

7. They still steal

but they've acquired the expertise to improve and innovate.

Our government is making a terrible mistake by cutting funds for basic research. Corporations only fund research that meets their needs, and they don't share.

[Mike_DuBois]

8. You want The Blob?

Because this is how you get The Blob!

[MineralMan]

9. It's The Blob.

Call Steve McQueen in right away!

[Cirque du So-What]

10. That's the Gelatinous Assimilator to you, Sir

[flotsam]

13. Probably a mixture

...of tardigrades and human DNA.