Remember last year (2021) in October when China's "Yutu-2" lunar rover discovered a "mysterious cabin" on the moon? What exactly is it? Now there is basically an answer.
At the end of October last year, when the Yutu-2 lunar rover took a ring photograph of the surrounding environment during the inspection, it found an object with an approximate cube in the shape of an abrupt house on the lunar surface in the distance, and it was not known what it was, so it was called "Mysterious Hut", and its location was about 80 meters (straight-line distance) from Yutu-2, and then Yutu-2 went to the "Mysterious Hut" to find out. At that time, many netizens laughed and said that they had to see if there were aliens living inside, and some people said that this time "Jade Rabbit Ii" found a "rabbit nest".
Due to the slower speed of Yutu-2, it was expected that it would take two to three months to drive the lunar rover to reach its destination, but as the distance drew closer, the "Mysterious Hut" became clearer and clearer.
Many friends may wonder why Yutu-2 is driving so slowly? It takes two or three months to walk 80 meters! In fact, in good condition, Yutu-2 can walk 200 meters per hour, but in the lunar environment, the surface conditions are not good, basically clay and gravel, which is not conducive to walking, and the energy source of Yutu-2 relies on two solar sails to charge, and the lack of electricity will limit its walking time, so Yutu-2 has walked about 906 meters in about two years and 10 months since it landed on the far side of the moon on January 3, 2019, until the discovery of the "mysterious hut". It only walks 26.6 meters per month.
This is also because the mission of Yutu-2 on the moon is to detect the state of the lunar surface, not just for walking, it carries a panoramic camera, radar and infrared imaging spectrometer, neutral atom detector and other scientific instruments, sometimes need to work in a static state, and the time that can walk in each month is only about 14 days, because it needs to be charged solar energy during the lunar day period, and the Yutu-2 is in a dormant state during the lunar night period, so it is very slow to walk from the time point of view.
On December 27, 2021, Yutu II ushered in the 38th month of day, in this month day, although Yutu II walked and stopped, but the speed was obviously much faster than before, the length has been more than 60 meters, it can be said that it ran all the way, after many walks it is only less than 10 meters away from the "mysterious hut", this distance is very close, we can basically distinguish what is what is, so Yutu II took the picture of this mysterious hut and sent it back, We can see what it is, let's see:
Zoom in to see that this is it:
Obviously, it is a stone, but the shape is also too interesting, many netizens at a glance found that the shape of this stone is very similar to a rabbit creeping on the ground, indeed! The "drivers" who control the Yutu-2 lunar rover have long discovered this interesting phenomenon, and it really looks like a white rabbit creeping forward.
No wonder many netizens joked: This is really the jade rabbit to find a partner, Chang'e's jade rabbit has appeared, Guanghan Palace should not be far away, Is Chang'e inside? ...
So why is there a stone shaped like a rabbit here? Where did it come from? It is speculated that it is most likely a meteorite, but it is not a meteorite that lands directly on the surface of the moon, because the moon does not have an atmosphere, most meteorites will not slow down when they hit the moon, and the meteorites with very fast speeds will not only crash out of the crater, but also make the meteorite drill into the ground of the lunar surface, and will not become a rock protruding on the lunar surface, so it is likely that the broken stones after the meteorite impact splashed and landed there, and there are also two impact craters near it. The smaller crater does not appear to have appeared for a long time, as there are many smaller stones scattered around the crater.
However, in a small probability, this stone may also be a rock from the lunar rock formation, because when the meteorite hits the lunar surface, it will also cause the lunar rock to break, and some lunar rocks will also collapse everywhere.
It is worth mentioning that the distance of Yutu-2 on the moon has now exceeded 1000 meters, on January 6, it was fully charged and walked again, soon exceeded 1000 meters, and its walking distance has reached 1003.9 meters when January 7 comes, and it should also send back a closer and clearer photo of this "rabbit stone".
It must be boasted that this spacecraft, which is designed to have a lifespan of only 3 months, has been working for 34 months so far, constantly creating its own legend.
Resources:
"Global Network" January 7, 2022 article "Yutu II decrypts the moon "mysterious hut""
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