In 2019, Chang'e 4 carried the Yutu 2 lunar rover to visit the back of the moon for the first time. With the assistance of the Queqiao relay satellite, it carried out a lot of scientific research on this space that humans have never set foot in.
In Beijing Aerospace Flight Control Center later published the results of Yutu 2 scientific research results, first disclosed the mysterious Yutu 2 color substance on the back of the moon From the beginning to the end, , and based on this material, a certain speculation was made on the internal structure of the moon.
Yutu No. 2 landing site
On July 28, 2019, Yutu will enter the dormant state of moonlit night after completing one-month scientific research tasks. The ground expert team completed the analysis and sorting of the video data for this day and went home one after another. The operator adjusted the camera to observe whether the surrounding environment was safe or not, and was about to go to sleep. Suddenly an operator said:
look, There seems to be something in the impact crater on the side.
Mysterious matter position
The adjustment command was quickly transmitted from the ground station to Yutu-2 via the relay satellite . After a two-second delay, Yutu-2 returned the image in the impact crater to control In the lobby, a pile of colorful jelly appeared on the large control screen.
At that time, the experts of the expert group were already on their way home. Yutu 2 lost solar energy and was about to enter a dormant state. In addition, the scientific research tasks of Yutu 2 were also fully arranged the next day. The operator also had difficulties in revising the plan for this unexpected situation.
The news was quickly reported to the model chief,Experts also received first-hand information. The experts did not raise any interest at first, because Yutu had already discovered a lot of this phenomenon during the first day of the month. After the sun's complex scattering on the surface of the moon rock, it will show up on the camera. Tufts of colorful light spots are normal optical phenomena.
However, just after the operator switched the auxiliary camera in another position, the material was still the same-the gel was white under the afterglow of the sun. If you look closely at the edge, you can see a lot of colorful Light spot. After this situation was reported, the expert team called within an hour:
Oh my god! What the hell is this? Can you start the detection tomorrow?
is responsible for the ground base station of Yutu II
After a brief discussion meeting, the ground control center decided to modify the detection plan for the next day, and the detection of this mysterious substance will be carried out immediately in the morning of the next month. .
No wonder the experts are so excited. Although the United States and the former Soviet Union have launched a lot of lunar probes , but these probes are concentrated on the front of the moon, because the tide is locked on the back of the moon and has been away from the direction of the earth. It is an unexplored blue ocean.
Moreover, the current research on the moon is limited to the lunar surface composed of plagioclase minerals, and nothing is known about the composition of the deeper moon mantle .
Now it seems that Yutu 2 is facing such an opportunity to explore the internal structure of the moon. How could the expert team let this opportunity slip away?
The previous US-Soviet moon photos were mainly gray plagioclase
but the exploration mission encountered a lot of trouble at the beginning. The mysterious substance was in the center of an impact crater and the slope of the crater wall Over 30°, if you arbitrarily approach the mysterious substance, lunar rover may overturn directly.
The expert group wants to use the infrared imaging spectrometer that comes with Yutu 2 to directly analyze it.Since the position of the spectrometer is relatively to the middle of the lunar rover, this action even makes the front wheel of the lunar rover directly hung in the air.
The operator rejected the direct approach plan, mainly worried about the loose structure of the spatter around the impact crater. In the event of a landslide accident, no one can go up and support the lunar rover.
recent photo of the impact crater
After the first conservative approach detection failed due to the shadow problem, the two sides fell into a stalemate again.
On the one hand, he is unwilling to give up this first major discovery of mankind. On the other hand, he is worried that the lunar rover will fail the mission. The director of the Space Center of the Chinese Academy of Sciences called the Space Flight Control Center and stated the significance of this discovery: The origin of the moon has always been an unsolved mystery. This impact crater opened a small hole in the lunar mantle, which is a chance to see the structure of the moon. I hope that the control center can do its best to cooperate.
After a quick and simple meeting, the control center made a final decision: Under the premise of ensuring the safety of the lunar rover, we will try our best to obtain data for the experts.
The wheelbase of Yutu II is very small, and the high center of gravity is indeed easy to roll over.
After analyzing the structure of the impact crater, the operator formulated a new operation plan. The lunar rover first made a big 80° turn, turned to the side with a slower slope, and then tried to press the edge of the impact crater with the front wheels. According to the rutting marks, the risk of landslide at the edge of the impact crater was low, and the last time was short. In the operation, the infrared spectrometer was passed directly above the mysterious substance.
Spectral scanning information of the substance flooded into the ground control center after a one-second delay, and the expert group immediately carried out related substance analysis. The analysis results prove that these materials are indeed significantly different from the spectral data of the materials on the surface of the moon, and they are likely to come from the bottom of the moon. After further analysis of high-quality spectral information by
, experts determined that these substances are mainly composed of a mixture of low-calcium pyroxene and olivine ,It may come from the upper mantle part of the moon, which points the way to the cause of the moon that has been debated for many years.
Olivine meteorite
Some scientists believe that the moon is a naturally formed planet. Like other planets in the solar system, it exists in the magma ocean stage. At this stage, the lighter plagioclase material floated up to form the current moon surface, while the denser materials such as pyroxene and olivine sink under the plagioclase, forming the upper moon mantle of the moon.
Yutu 2 found a strong support for the discovery of low-calcium pyroxene and olivine in the impact crater. In a broader sense, this discovery may affect our understanding of the formation and evolution of the internal structure of the moon. .
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