China’s Yutu-2 Rover Finds Mysterious Gel-Like Substance on Moon
China’s Chang’e 4’s Yutu-2 probe is on the dark side of the moon, making conspiracy theorists slide to the edge of their seats. As part of the China Lunar Exploration Project and China National Space Administration, the moon landing took place earlier this year, setting its unmanned rover loose on the most mysterious lunar landscape. And it seems they have found something unique — a gel-like substance that is, thus far, unexplainable by scientists back on Earth.
China on the Dark Side of the Moon
For millennia people have stared up at the moon and speculated what might be going on in the regions that seem always to be on the opposite side of what appears to be illuminated from Earth. This dark side stares out onto the cold, endless, forbidding landscape of deep space.
Cruising Around the Lunar Surface
The Planetary Society reported, “Though no real science results have emerged yet, scientists involved stated in Nature Geoscience that the landing site shows ‘potential evidence of excavated deep mafic material, which could reveal the mineralogy of the lunar mantle.’” Mafic material is a fancy word for igneous rock rich in magnesium and iron.
Outfitted with a panoramic camera, Yutu-2, the Chinese moon rover is relaying compressed images to Earth that, among other things, have shown features near the ‘Statio Tianhe’ landing site. Since its touchdown earlier this year, Yutu-2 covered a total of 271 meters (890 feet) as it continued Westward of the landing site in Von Kármán Crater.
With China on the moon, a lot of progress is being made in the minds of eager scientists who are busy analyzing the data collected thus far. Analysts reported that the Lunar Penetrating Radar (LPR) experiment aboard the rover has returned “very interesting radar data for lunar subsurface analysis” along the roving route.
But perhaps the most unusual find on the Chinese space mission is one that continues to baffle scientists. The online publication Space reported that Yutu-2 stumbled on an unusually colored, ‘gel-like’ substance during lunar day eight.
According to one report “the rover had been due to power down for one of its regular ‘naps’ just prior to the discovery, but when the anomaly was spotted, engineers decided to postpone the process so that it could be investigated. The discovery prompted scientists on the mission to postpone other driving plans for the rover, and instead focus its instruments on trying to figure out what the strange material is.”
One Chinese space agency explained that on July 28, 2019, during a round of panoramic photography, “someone monitoring the rover spotted a ‘gel with a mysterious luster’ sitting in the centre of the crater. It couldn’t be identified from a distance, but whatever it was, it clearly stood out from its surroundings. ‘The fascinating colors seem to imply its extraordinary life,’ the news site went on to explain.”
An article appearing in Smithsonian.com suggests another yet-unproven idea: “In the absence of details…the announcement has led to speculation. The most likely explanation…is that the lustrous spot isn’t really a gel, but is some form of shiny melted glass created when a meteorite struck the moon.”
At this point, laypersons and scientists alike are waiting until someone gets to the bottom of this gelatinous finding to put speculation to rest. Meanwhile, Chinese moon rover pictures continue to amaze and intrigue heaven-gazers around the globe. Only time will tell (unless of course we get only the “official” story) whether the dark side of the moon has been harboring secrets all along.
Ben Rich, Lockheed Martin and UFOs
Ben R. Rich, brilliant scientist, aeronautical engineer and Father of Stealth is more of an enigma now than he was during his lifetime. He is most noted for designing a stealth fighter-plane that flew undetected by radar and for his role as the second director of Lockheed Martin’s top-secret Skunk Works program. Born in 1925, Rich passed away in 1995 with controversy still brewing among his friends, critics and those who heard him speak publicly about whether or not he believed in UFOs and extraterrestrials.
Many questions remain unanswered. Was there a Ben Rich deathbed confession where he admitted that he knew that extraterrestrials and UFO visitors are real? Did he publicly mean it when he claimed that, “We now have the technology to take ET home,” or was it a joke? Is there credibility to other statements attributed to him in which he allegedly claimed technology learned at Roswell was used to influence the development of top secret U.S. aircraft? Are the alleged communications from Rich to his friend John Andrews credible?
With Rich’s last breath, definitive answers to these questions were lost forever.
Ben Rich and Skunk Works
Lockheed Martin’s Advanced Development Projects (ADP), known officially as Skunk Works, was a secret aeronautical research facility in Burbank, California. The founder and first director of Skunk Works was Clarence “Kelly” Johnson, who was the designer of a U.S. spy plane called the U-2. Ben Robert Rich joined Skunk Works in 1954 and helped design various aircraft, including a prototype that could reach speeds more than 1,300 mph. He became the second director of Skunk Works, holding that position from 1975 until his retirement in 1991.
