Although the space environment of the moon and the earth are similar, the surface of the moon and the earth are quite different. There are not many impact craters on the surface of the earth, but the surface of the moon is different. From the high-definition photos of the moon se

Although the space environment of the moon and the earth are similar, the surface of the moon and the earth are quite different. There are not many impact craters on the surface of the earth, but the surface of the moon is different. From the high-definition photos of the moon sent back by probes or spacecraft, we can see that there are numerous large and small impact craters on the lunar surface. They have similar cosmic environments, so why are the surfaces of the two planets so different?

The main reason why there is such a big difference is that the earth has a dense atmosphere, while the moon has no atmosphere. When various asteroids, comets or meteorites and other small fragments from the depths of the universe hit the earth, the atmosphere will act as a barrier. The smaller fragments will burn violently directly in the atmosphere and turn into a Meteor shower disappeared directly. Only small celestial bodies with relatively large sizes will fail to complete burning, and eventually some fragments will hit the earth. Such situations are relatively rare. The moon has no atmosphere, which means that various small fragments from the depths of the universe are like entering "no man's land" when reaching the moon, without any obstruction, directly hitting the lunar surface. In addition to natural objects such as asteroids, there are also some man-made spacecraft that may impact the moon, so there are various large and small impact craters on the moon's surface.

The probe discovered that a mysterious spacecraft hit the moon

Humans have actually explored the moon very early. As early as January 4, 1959, the Lunar 1 probe launched by the Soviet Union successfully flew over the moon. This was the first successful human launch. Interstellar probe. Then the former Soviet Union launched the Lunar 2 probe on September 12, 1959. The probe finally successfully landed on the moon hard. Its equipment stopped working after impacting the moon. This was the first mission in human history to reach the moon. Surface detector. On January 31, 1966, the Soviet Union launched the Lunar 9 probe . This probe successfully completed the first human soft landing mission on the lunar surface. In the following decades, humans also launched a series of probes and manned spacecraft to the moon, and achieved many results.

Although today’s technology is more mature and advanced than a few decades ago, it is still relatively difficult to explore the moon. There are still very few countries that can send probes to the moon or fly around the moon. Some countries are trying soft landings. There was also a failure when traveling to the moon, which eventually caused the probe to "fall" to the lunar surface. For example, Israel's "Genesis" lunar probe and India's "Chandrayaan-2" probe both failed in the final stages of landing on the moon. The probes "smashed" towards the lunar surface at a relatively fast speed, leaving behind There were some impact craters, and of course, these detectors were smashed to pieces. In addition to the failure of these probes to land on the moon, some spacecraft may also crash into the moon out of control after completing their missions.

As early as the end of last year, astronomers discovered a rocket body flying towards the moon. Then the 4-ton rocket body hit the moon at a speed of 2.58 kilometers per second on March 4, 2022. . NASA's Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) discovered the impact crater created when the mysterious spacecraft hit the moon while orbiting the moon. Surprisingly, this impact formed two impact craters on the lunar surface. One of the larger impact craters is about 18 meters in diameter, and the smaller impact crater is about 16 meters in diameter. The larger impact craters are superimposed on the lunar surface. Above the smaller impact crater, the combined maximum width of the two impact craters reaches 29 meters. What's happening here? Where did this rocket body come from?

Although astronomers had predicted before the impact on the moon that the moon would not be able to avoid this impact event, , the two impact craters left on the moon's surface were beyond astronomers' expectations. Scientists believe that the reason why there are two impact craters may be because both ends of the rocket body have a larger mass. Under normal circumstances, the mass of an abandoned rocket is mainly concentrated in the engine section, and the rest of the rocket mainly consists of an empty fuel tank.Although the impact crater has now been discovered, scientists are still unsure of the origin of this mysterious rocket body, that is to say, they do not know which country's rocket body it is.

Important resources found on the moon

Although the moon looks desolate and its surface is covered with various large and small impact craters, it has now become the focus of our human exploration. The main purpose of our exploration of the moon is not to study how to transform the moon into a "second home" for us humans, but to develop various resources on the moon in the future. Scientists have found in the precious samples brought back by the Chang'e-5 probe An important resource, helium-3, was discovered.

Although the earth also has helium-3, the earth’s helium-3 storage capacity is very small. The known helium-3 that can be developed is only about 500 kilograms, which is very rare. Therefore, the earth’s helium-3 is very precious. There are some It is estimated that helium-3 is worth as much as $3 billion per ton. The moon has a lot of helium-3. Scientists estimate that the moon's helium-3 storage capacity may be as high as 1 million tons, far exceeding the storage capacity of the earth. If we can develop helium-3 on the moon and bring it back to the earth for use ,Significance.

Because helium-3 is a fuel that can be used as a fuel for nuclear fusion reaction power stations, it does not release greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide like fossil fuels during use, and is very friendly to the environment. In addition, the energy produced by 100 tons of helium-3 can be used by the whole world for one year. In other words, 1 million tons of helium-3 on the moon can be used by us humans for tens of thousands of years. If we can make good use of the helium-3 on the moon, our human civilization will no longer need to worry about energy shortages for a long time to come. Maybe based on the use of helium-3, the progress of human civilization will be accelerated, and interstellar immigration will be realized as soon as possible.