China鈥檚 lunar rover, Yutu 2, will be investigating what appears to be a mysterious cube-shaped 鈥渉ut鈥� on the moon after spotting it recently on the horizon.
The strange shape was described first in , which is associated with the Chinese National Space Administration.
In the post, Yutu 2 was rolling along at the end of October, navigating a complex region on the moon comprised of large impact craters, when drivers noticed something strange in the distance while taking pictures of the skyline with Yutu 2.
They observed what looked like a cube, protruding up from the horizon far away from them. Although it was far away, and thus hard to see properly, it looked unusually angular compared to other rocks, earning it the moniker of a 鈥渕ysterious hut.鈥�
According to Our Space, the 鈥渉ut鈥� is around 80 metres away from Yutu 2鈥檚 current location. Although the rover has a maximum speed of 200 metres per hour, the rough terrain it is in currently means that the rover will need around two to three Earth months to actually reach the structure. But a plan is in place to investigate.
Yutu 2, which means 鈥淛ade Rabbit 2,鈥� is part of the Chang鈥檈 Lunar Exploration Program. It鈥檚 the first lunar rover to explore the so-called 鈥渄ark side鈥� of the moon, the side that faces away from Earth. While the dark side has been observed from orbit, it has never been explored on the surface in this way.
The rover is currently making its way west across the dark side of the moon, weaving through a canyon to avoid steep slopes. The day it spotted the strange hut shape on the horizon, it had conquered a climb up a hill after finding itself blocked in by slopes on three sides, according to Our Space.
While the cube-shaped object has spurred comparisons on social media to the monolith found on the moon in the sci-fi film 2001: A Space Odyssey, it鈥檚 far more likely to simply be a large boulder.
Strange things have been seen on celestial bodies before, such as a photo taken of Mars by the Viking 1 orbiter in 1976 which appeared to show a person鈥檚 face rising out of the surface of the planet. Dubbed the 鈥淔ace on Mars,鈥� further photos have shown that it was a trick of lighting on a specific rock formation.
