- 6 months ago
Images from recent lunar observations have sparked intense debate after revealing a strange, structured formation on the Moon’s surface. Its geometry doesn’t seem to match typical natural patterns, raising questions about how it formed. Now the big question is whether this is an unusual geological feature—or something far more mysterious.
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00:00China's U-2-2 is a robotic mission to the dark side of the Moon, launched on December 7, 2018.
00:07On January 3, 2019, it completes the first ever soft landing on the lunar far side.
00:14It lands in the Von Karman Crater, not far from the Moon's South Pole.
00:19Scientists are interested in this area.
00:21Cold, permanently shadowed craters at the poles contain water ice.
00:25These ice patches are uneven and are likely to be ancient.
00:30In the South, most of the water ice is concentrated in craters, and at the North Pole, it's spread more
00:36sparsely.
00:36In any case, this ice can be used once a long-term, manned mission lands on the Moon.
00:43Anyway, several days after U-2-2 lands, it closes down its operating systems and hibernates through its first lunar
00:50night.
00:52It wakes up on January 29, 2019.
00:56All its tools operate normally.
00:58The rover travels 390 feet during its first full lunar day.
01:03One lunar day lasts for about 14 days, and a lunar night has the same duration.
01:09Moving and exploring during the day and switching off during the night becomes the rover's routine.
01:15It's the 8th lunar day when U-2-2 stumbles across something incredible.
01:21This discovery makes the scientists put off all other plans for the mission.
01:25They focus on figuring out what the strange material found by the rover is.
01:30In the beginning, this lunar day is no different from any other.
01:35It begins on July 25, when the rover starts making its way through an area pockmarked with tiny impact craters.
01:42U-2-2 is helped and monitored by the driver team from the Beijing Aerospace Control Center.
01:48On July 28, the team is preparing to shut the rover down for a midday nap.
01:54The sun is high in the sky.
01:56It means there are high levels of radiation and scorching temperatures that can damage the machine.
02:02Before powering U-2-2 down, the scientists are looking through the pictures taken by the rover's main camera.
02:09That's when they spot it, a small crater filled with something that looks shockingly different from the surrounding landscape.
02:16Unable to identify the gel-like substance, the team orders the rover to check this bizarre finding.
02:22U-2-2 cautiously nears the crater to examine the weirdly colored stuff.
02:27The machine uses special equipment that detects the light reflected off the substance.
02:32It's supposed to help the researchers to understand the structure of the material.
02:37Unfortunately, the nature of the unusually colored finding has remained a mystery for over a year.
02:44No wonder that both the finding and the fact that initially there were no images of the enigmatic stuff sparked
02:51curiosity all over the world.
02:54The only available description of the substance was that it looked like a randomly colored, shiny gel.
03:00Something that's rather odd for the dusty, arid surface of the moon.
03:04But finally, the mystery seems to have been solved.
03:08The researchers have analyzed the information received from the rover's equipment.
03:12As expected, the substance turned out to be made up of rock, greenish and glistening breccia, in a sample no
03:20larger than 20 by 6 inches.
03:21It's kind of like a geologic version of jello salad with fruit inside.
03:27If you melt it down, it'll look glassy.
03:31Breccia consists of sharp stones joined together by a chalky substance.
03:35The sample found on the far side of the moon is made up of a mix of different minerals.
03:40The main is a type of silicate that's one of the most common components in both the moon and Earth's
03:47crust.
03:47The piece also contains some glass, which means it could have formed during a volcanic eruption.
03:53But volcanic activity on the moon stopped more than 3 billion years ago.
03:58That's why the researchers are almost sure it's unlikely to be the source of the unusual finding.
04:05The material could have been created by a massive asteroid, comet, or meteorite that once hit the moon.
04:12During the collision, the pressure and temperature were so high that huge amounts of rock instantly melted.
04:18Some pieces cooled down rapidly enough to form glass.
04:22The rest gathered at the center of the impact crater and grew colder more slowly, forming a new rock.
04:28The substance was likely not formed in the von Karmen crater, but in the nearby Finsen and Alder craters.
04:36The hollow where the rover made its finding was just 7 feet across.
04:40Whatever left it had to be no wider than an inch.
04:44But then, it would be too small to create such a large piece of breccia.
04:50It's interesting that the material is similar to the samples collected by the astronauts from NASA's Apollo missions.
04:56One of those samples was made of dark, broken shards of minerals glued together.
05:02It also contained some black, shiny glass.
05:05It's not clear, though, whether it's the same as the stuff discovered by U-2-2.
05:10When the rover took photos and made its measurements, it was rather dark in the area.
05:15The quality of the images isn't that great.
05:19The experts also explained that the mission is examining a previously unexplored area of the moon.
05:25That's why they don't have any samples from that region, to compare them with the greenish, shiny substance U-2
05:31-2 found.
05:32But, if their guesses turn out to be true, then the far side of the moon might have more in
05:37common with the Earth-facing one than we used to think.
05:41But, what's so special about this dark side of Earth's natural satellite, and why can't we see it?
05:50It's all because of the phenomenon known as tidal locking.
05:54Earth's only natural satellite rotates around its axis once in 27 days.
05:59It's the same amount of time it needs to go around our planet.
06:03That's why you always see the same face.
06:05To be precise, 59% of the moon's surface is visible to people.
06:10It means that you can catch glimpses of the satellite's far side at some times of the year.
06:16The moon's side we can't see is quite different from the one facing Earth.
06:21It doesn't have dark spots that are visible at night.
06:24Those are lunar basaltic planes called lunar meria.
06:29They were created by ancient volcanic eruptions.
06:31Those happened about 3 to 4 billion years ago.
06:34Instead of planes, the far surface of the moon has countless craters and tall mountains.
06:41One of the ideas about such a striking difference between the two sides is based on the collision theory.
06:47It claims that billions of years ago, Earth collided with another planet or some other massive space body.
06:54After that, the debris from this collision crashed with something that would later form our moon.
06:59That's why the satellite's landscapes differ so greatly.
07:05A more recent theory suggests that the Earth-facing part of the moon is warmer because of the heat radiated
07:12by our planet.
07:13During the period of volcanic eruptions, it was cooler on the farther side.
07:17That's why the minerals there became solid faster.
07:20They formed a protective layer shielding the moon's insides against the meteorites.
07:25But each impact left an impressive crater.
07:28At the same time, a much softer crust on the front-facing side of the moon spewed lava every time
07:35a meteorite hit it.
07:36After this lava cooled down, it covered the impact craters.
07:41Even though the far side is often called dark, both sides get almost the same amount of sunlight.
07:46The side we see looks a bit brighter because of the glow coming from Earth.
07:52There are two reasons why people are interested in exploring the far side of the moon.
07:57After leaving our planet, many radio waves get blocked by Earth's natural satellite.
08:02If astronomers could build their radio and optical telescopes on the dark side, they would get much more data.
08:09There would be no problems with any kind of interference.
08:12The telescopes would also be shielded from the glare of daylight coming from our planet.
08:16If telescopes were set up inside craters, they would also be protected from solar radiation.
08:23Astronomers would be able to get an incredibly clear view of the far regions of the universe.
08:28Plus, scientists believe there are great amounts of helium-3 on the opposite side of the moon.
08:34Earth is protected from solar winds that carry this gas by its magnetic field.
08:40But our natural satellite doesn't have such a shield.
08:43That's why experts believe the moon can be a perfect place for helium-3 mining.
08:49This rare element can be later used as the fuel for fusion reactors.
08:56Technological progress does not stand still, and over the past decade,
08:59the resolution of images of the lunar surface has improved greatly.
09:03Many pits have been discovered on the surface, and some of them are really impressive in size.
09:08The largest are hundreds of feet deep.
09:11However, technology is not yet advanced enough for us to study the bottom of such pits in detail.
09:16That's why a recent discovery is surprising.
09:18It turns out that huge pits can extend deep into the rock of the moon.
09:22It's a groundbreaking discovery. Let's figure out why.
09:26So look at this giant underground cave.
09:28Leonardo Carrere and Lorenzo Bruzon from the University of Trento
09:32were thrilled to finally confirm the existence of such structures on the moon.
09:36They analyzed images taken by the mini-RF instrument on board the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter in 2010.
09:42The original images didn't have excellent resolution,
09:46so the authors had to do a huge amount of work,
09:48using modern data analysis and modeling techniques.
09:52But first things first, why does it all matter so much?
09:55Well, instead of building homes on the surface of the moon,
09:59we might be able to live inside these natural caves.
10:02They could offer protection from dangerous things like harmful space radiation,
10:07extreme temperature swings, and even meteorites.
10:10According to planetary geologist Wes Patterson from Johns Hopkins,
10:15even though we'd still have to bring materials from Earth to make those caves habitable,
10:19using them would be a lot easier and cheaper than building bases on the surface.
10:24Based on the collected data, the cave is about 150 feet wide and up to 260 feet long,
10:31which is just a bit smaller than a football field.
10:34It's located in a deep pit called the Mare Tranquillitatis Pit,
10:38which likely formed when an ancient lava tube collapsed.
10:41Although the moon has no active volcanoes today, billions of years ago,
10:45its surface was covered with lava that flowed through valleys,
10:49carving out these tubes below the surface.
10:51Over time, some of the lava tubes became unstable and collapsed,
10:56creating pits like the one in question.
10:59NASA's Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter, LRO,
11:02has already found more than 200 of such pits on the moon.
11:06It means there could be hundreds of hidden caves waiting to be explored on our satellite.
11:11When publishing their findings in Nature Astronomy,
11:14the researchers suggested that the caves could offer future astronauts
11:17a safe place to live and work, protecting them from the moon's extreme conditions.
11:23And extreme they are.
11:25One of the biggest challenges of living on the moon is its temperatures.
11:29The lunar surface gets extremely hot during the day,
11:33reaching about 250 degrees Fahrenheit,
11:35and then the temperature drops below minus 200 degrees Fahrenheit at night.
11:39But inside the caves, the temperature could stay much more consistent.
11:44A separate study done in 2022 used computer simulations
11:47to predict that some of those caves could maintain a comfortable temperature
11:51of about 63 degrees Fahrenheit.
11:53Much easier to manage, right?
11:55Unfortunately, getting to the caves won't be easy.
11:58The Mare Tranquilitatis Cave is over 400 feet below the surface,
12:03at the bottom of a steep slope covered in loose debris.
12:06It would take some clever engineering to get up and down that slope.
12:10The options could be using jetpacks, a lunar elevator, or some other kind of technology.
12:15We must find a way to transport astronauts safely.
12:18There's also a lot more to discover.
12:20Radar technology could help scientists find even more caves and lava tubes on the moon.
12:24In the future, a spacecraft with higher-resolution radar
12:28could even map the insides of the pits that LRO has already found.
12:32According to the researchers, this kind of complete survey
12:35could help them figure out the best locations for future lunar bases and other explorations.
12:40And there's another potential bonus.
12:42Those caves could contain water.
12:44Scientists have already found frozen water on the moon,
12:47under the surface, and in permanently shadowed craters.
12:50Tiny amounts are also scattered across the lunar dirt.
12:52Water is a critical resource for any moon base,
12:55and finding it in the caves could make the idea of living there even more realistic.
12:59All in all, this discovery could be a game-changer for lunar exploration.
13:03Living in natural caves on the moon might be a more practical and safer option
13:07than building something on the surface.
13:09It could also bring us one step closer to making the moon a place
13:13where humans can live and work for the long term.
13:20Soon, we might start constructing loads of stuff on the moon.
13:25All because India's moon mission has recently detected sulfur near the moon's south pole.
13:32This chemical element can come in extremely handy for creating infrastructure on our satellite.
13:39It's the first time this chemical element has been discovered on Earth's natural satellite.
13:44This sought-after element is mostly found near Earth's volcanoes.
13:49Its appearance on the moon speaks volumes about the satellite's volcanic history
13:54and its past atmospheric conditions.
13:58The mission's rover detected this chemical element less than a week after touching down
14:03around 70 degrees from the moon's south pole on the 23rd of August, 2023.
14:10This historic landing on the lunar surface made India the fourth country
14:14to safely land a mission on the moon.
14:18It's also the first spacecraft to touch down so close to the south pole of our satellite.
14:24It's an area of strategic importance because it's believed to be home to deposits of water ice.
14:31If it turns out to be true, future missions might be able to harvest it
14:35and turn this water ice into drinking water or even rocket fuel.
14:41For two weeks, the lander carried out the data collection,
14:44mainly focused on the analysis of the moon's soil and its extremely thin atmosphere.
14:50Meanwhile, the solar-powered Pragyan rover started its quest to find frozen water on the moon.
14:57As for the lander, it demonstrated another amazing feat on the 3rd of September.
15:02The spacecraft fired up its engines and lifted itself for about 16 inches into the air.
15:08Then it made a tiny hop to land 12 to 16 inches away from its original position.
15:14It's kinda a big deal.
15:17Being able to get a lander back off the surface of the moon is essentially for future missions,
15:22showing that they can safely return soil samples or even astronauts back home after a lunar mission.
15:30In September, the Indian spacecraft was put into sleeping mode.
15:35The 14-day-long lunar night was approaching,
15:38and the spacecraft wasn't designed to collect scientific data during this period of time.
15:44So far, we've learned about a few major findings of the mission.
15:48One is related to measuring the temperature of the moon's topsoil at different depths.
15:54Intriguingly, the surface of the satellite in that region turned out to be hotter than expected.
16:00It was believed that the temperature could be between 68 and 86 degrees Fahrenheit on the surface.
16:07But it was around 158 degrees Fahrenheit, way hotter than it should be.
16:12The other discovery indicates the presence of several chemical elements, including oxygen.
16:20Besides, the data received from the spacecraft confirms the presence of aluminum,
16:25calcium, iron, titanium, silicon,
16:29and other chemical elements on the lunar surface close to the south pole.
16:34The rover also used special instruments designed to measure quakes and rumbles beneath the lunar surface
16:40to detect some seismic activity.
16:43It brings us back to the sulfur detected thanks to the rover's spectroscope.
16:50Scientists are currently working on figuring out whether this element formed on the surface in a natural way
16:55or whether it's the result of volcanic activity or a meteor strike.
17:02Another astonishing thing found on the moon is a rock,
17:05and it may be the oldest known Earth rock.
17:08A 0.7-inch wide chip included in a large rock collection brought to our planet by Apollo astronauts
17:16might actually be a 4 billion-year-old fragment of Earth.
17:22This finding could help us paint a better picture of the intense, pounding early Earth got at the dawn of
17:28its life.
17:30It could go like this.
17:32Soon after the rock formed, an asteroid impact might have blasted it from Earth.
17:37At that time, our planet's satellite was three times closer to Earth than it is today.
17:43The collision was so powerful that this chunk of terrestrial rock found its way to the moon.
17:49Later, this fragment got engulfed in a lunar breccia, a motley kind of rock.
17:55Eventually, the rock was brought back home to Earth by Apollo 14 astronauts.
18:01Even though scientists had found meteorites coming from Mars and the moon before,
18:05it was the first time a rock from the moon turned out to be a terrestrial meteorite.
18:10They also found out that the rock had formed in a water-rich environment at temperatures and pressures,
18:16corresponding to those at around 12 miles beneath the surface of our planet.
18:23In 2019, China's Chang'e 4 mission made history by landing on the far side of the moon.
18:30The mission's rover helped researchers visualize structures hidden deep below the surface of the satellite,
18:37revealing billions of years of lunar history.
18:40The U-2-2 rover made this discovery with the help of its lunar-penetrating radar.
18:45It imaged deep into the moon's surface and listened to echoes of sound bouncing back off structures
18:52hidden from view under the surface of the moon.
18:56It turned out those structures were resting at depths of almost 1,000 feet.
19:02The research suggests that the first 130 feet under the surface are made up of layers of dust, soil, and
19:09rocks.
19:10The instruments also discovered a concealed crater that must have formed after a large object slammed into the moon's surface.
19:18Long, long ago, ancient lava was likely to be flowing deep underground.
19:24Researchers believe that the broken rocks around the formation might be debris produced by the impact.
19:30They also found that the volcanic rock layers were thinner the closer they were to the surface.
19:36Such a thickness variation of lava flows might mean a decrease in the number and magnitude of eruptions over time.
19:45So, lunar volcanic activity gradually dwindled since the moon's formation around 4.5 billion years ago.
19:54On the far side of the moon, there is one of the largest and oldest impact craters in our solar
20:00system,
20:01the South Pole-Aitken Basin.
20:04Unfortunately, from Earth, you can only see its outer rim, which looks like a huge chain of mountains.
20:10It's a ginormous 8-mile-deep dent, stretching for more than 1,500 miles in diameter and covering one-fourth
20:19of the moon's surface.
20:21Astronomers are sure that this crater appeared when an asteroid collided with the moon around 4 billion years ago.
20:28And now, look at this gigantic chunk of metal the size of four states of Connecticut.
20:35As for its weight in pounds, it's enough to say that the number contains 18 zeros.
20:40This mysterious mass is hidden about 180 miles under the moon's surface, somewhere in the middle of the South Pole
20:48-Aitken Basin.
20:51It was discovered when GRAIL, which stands for NASA's Gravity Recovery and Interior Laboratory Mission,
20:58gathered data about our natural satellite.
21:00When examining this information, scientists noticed that in one place on the moon's surface,
21:06there was a weird change in gravity.
21:09After researching this phenomenon, they included that something mysterious was weighing down the basin floor there.
21:16So far, researchers haven't figured out the origin of the bizarre lump, but there are several theories.
21:23One of them claims that the finding is a chunk of dense oxide, which appeared when the moon was just
21:29taking its shape.
21:30At that time, the satellite was still covered with ancient oceans of magma,
21:35and the lump could be formed at the final stages of its cooling.
21:39However, most scientists support another theory,
21:42according to which, the puzzling mass is part of the giant asteroid that once created the South Pole-Aitken Basin.
21:49Since the thing is metallic, it's probably the iron-nickel core of the asteroid.
21:56There might be a labyrinth of lava tubes on the moon.
22:00Not so long ago, astronomers received the results of underground topography
22:04and discovered a massive cave under the surface of Earth's satellite.
22:09It could be the result of the lunar volcanic activity that happened more than 3 billion years ago.
22:16Streams of lava hardened, creating a thick, hard crust on the outside.
22:21But inside, it kept flowing, melting the rock and creating tunnels and caves.
22:28Numerous small pits in the moon's surface discovered by NASA seemed to be the openings to such lava tubes.
22:35If this theory is confirmed, the underground tunnels might serve not only as a convenient location for human-crewed space
22:42missions,
22:43but also as much-needed water sources for astronauts.
22:50August 23, 2023.
22:53A day when India's Chandrayaan-3 spacecraft made history
22:57by becoming the first to touch down on the lunar South Pole,
23:01a place we can't normally see from Earth.
23:04What makes this lunar hideaway so fascinating to scientists?
23:08Well, it turns out it's hiding something precious.
23:11Lunar ice.
23:14This place is believed to be more abundant with this ice than what we found up north.
23:18And it's not hard to see why scientists are so buzzed up about it.
23:22It's a frozen water source, and it could become our key to building a permanent lunar home,
23:28or even fueling missions all the way to Mars.
23:32Scientists knew about this ice for over two decades,
23:35since the NASA spacecraft accidentally stumbled upon it during one of the missions.
23:40Then, in 2018, NASA triumphantly declared that they're 100% sure about it.
23:46They said that the South Pole of the Moon is abundant with water.
23:51Now, picture this.
23:53Future lunar settlers could tap into this water supply.
23:56It could help us sustain life in the barren lunar landscape.
24:01Plus, by cleverly splitting the water into oxygen and hydrogen,
24:05we could receive both air and rocket fuel.
24:08All this will make Moon missions more feasible and self-sustaining.
24:13It's also a great glimpse into the past.
24:15This ice, maybe as old as the Moon itself, could unlock the Moon's and Earth's deep mysteries.
24:24But it turns out that water isn't rare in space at all.
24:27There might be lots of planets out there where life could thrive.
24:31We know this because we started finding water vapor around stars.
24:35And this water is remarkably similar to the water in our own solar system.
24:41This discovery suggests that the water on Earth originally came from space.
24:46Water forms around stars in the cloud of extremely hot vapor.
24:50Then it turns into ice and sticks to tiny dust particles.
24:54These particles stick together over time and become bigger objects,
24:58like comets, planets, and other things.
25:01Some of these become comets and planets in our own solar system.
25:05And this is how water is being spread across the universe.
25:08And it may be how it got to our planet and the Moon, too.
25:12Scientists think that the lunar ice might have journeyed here eons ago.
25:16Maybe it hitched a ride on water-rich asteroids that smacked into the Moon's surface.
25:23All this has big implications for us.
25:25The southern pole is an ideal canvas for humanity to establish a real Moon base.
25:31Imagine brick domes connected by secret underground tunnels.
25:36They'll be bustling with people busily operating computers.
25:41Some others will be cruising the lunar landscape in their jeeps or on their way to mine precious resources.
25:47We have some pretty cool ideas on how to build this.
25:50First, you probably imagine hauling hefty and water-draining shelters all the way from Earth.
25:55But maybe there's a more effective way.
25:59Think about our history as a civilization.
26:01Every time we venture to a new place, we survey the surroundings for available resources and use them to survive
26:08and thrive.
26:09This is how we spread across our own planet.
26:12So why shouldn't we spread across the Moon the same way?
26:15Now, you might wonder what resources the Moon might offer.
26:19We know about the ice, and it can be turned into water.
26:22But we can clearly see that our planet lacks lush greenery and edible food.
26:30Well, it might not be obvious, but the Moon does have something to offer.
26:34Mineral resources and sunlight.
26:37Unlike Earth, where the Sun rises and sets, the lunar poles offer quite a beautiful sight.
26:43The Sun gracefully orbits the horizon the entire day.
26:47Which means it can provide an almost uninterrupted source of power.
26:52Imagine living in a world bathed in perpetual sunlight.
26:56I'm sure the solar panels will love it.
26:58Me? Not so much.
27:00Still, we could use not only the Sun's light, but also its heat.
27:04Honestly, we should just use everything.
27:07If we're left with spare metal while producing oxygen, find a purpose for that metal, too.
27:13We need to treat the environment responsibly, not only on Earth, but on the Moon as well.
27:18Which is why scientists are learning how to turn the Moon's most abundant resources, regolith, into sturdy bricks.
27:26They've been quite inventive in figuring out how to create Moon bricks.
27:30Scientists want to use the Sun's heat to melt lunar dust, layer by layer,
27:35essentially creating a 3D printer for Moon dust.
27:39Engineers have also cooked up bricks using solar ovens and zapped lunar soil with microwaves.
27:45They've become quite adept at it.
27:48So yeah, perhaps we're going to establish a little brick factory on the Moon and build regolith houses.
27:56It's like Minecraft in real life.
27:59As soon as you find some cool new material, you gotta build a tiny house with it.
28:04If successful, these bricks could be used to construct entire buildings,
28:09potentially covering inflatable modules or giving new life to abandoned landers.
28:14So, will astronauts need to become skilled bricklayers?
28:18Well, they won't do everything themselves.
28:20We'd have to create a small automated system involving robots working collaboratively.
28:26Humans will, of course, oversee the construction site.
28:30Despite all this automation, scientists believe that living on the Moon is going to be, well, call it cozy.
28:37The designs may involve stacked living quarters or multipurpose areas.
28:43However, there would be some challenges too.
28:46On the Moon, things get extreme.
28:48Imagine scorching temperatures that can go up to 212 degrees Fahrenheit during the day.
28:54And at night, they plunge down to a chilly minus 290 degrees.
28:59And it's not just the weather.
29:01The Moon gets relentlessly exposed to solar radiation, cosmic rays, and micrometeorite impacts.
29:07All these things gradually wear down anything on its surface.
29:13Another big challenge is the lunar dust.
29:15On the Moon, there's no air to breathe, and the dust there can cause problems.
29:19And this one isn't only regular dust.
29:22It's super clingy and can even make astronauts sneeze and have watery eyes,
29:27as if they're having a lunar hay fever.
29:30It can also damage equipment and spacesuits.
29:33It's not something you want to mess with.
29:38Scientists have found that the dust is made when meteors hit the Moon,
29:42creating tiny particles and sharp glass shards.
29:45It's toxic, and its tiny particles can float around in low lunar gravity,
29:50making it hard to breathe.
29:52Unlike on Earth, the Moon doesn't have wind or rain to clean it away.
29:56So now they're studying it to find out how to prevent this annoying problem
30:01from ruining their entire mission.
30:04There's more to this lunar haven than meets the eye.
30:08Scientists also want to delve into the mysteries of low-frequency electromagnetic waves there.
30:13These waves are whispers from the far reaches of the universe.
30:17These elusive signals have remained hidden from us for ages.
30:21We only caught some cacophony of radio and other background noise, but that's it.
30:27On the Moon's dark side, however, we can finally record and study them.
30:33Studying these waves will help scientists to unlock the secrets of the universe's origins.
30:37It's not just about the Earth or the Moon.
30:41We're talking about peering back to the very beginnings of our world.
30:45Our new lunar lab might help us to forever reshape our understanding of the cosmos.
30:53So, NASA has some big plans on the Moon now.
30:56Their Artemis mission completed a successful return to Earth in December 2022,
31:02after nearly a month in space.
31:04It ventured far beyond the Moon.
31:07This mission proved the capabilities of some of our recent technological developments
31:12that will help us explore Mars.
31:14The goal of Artemis is to establish a lasting presence on the Moon.
31:19They want to create a gateway.
31:21Like a space station in orbit around the satellite, to help with the landings.
31:26Artemis 2 is set to carry astronauts to lunar orbit in 2024.
31:30And during Artemis 3, which should take place in the mid-2020s,
31:35two astronauts will touch down near the Moon's south pole.
31:39It's quite possible that the lunar base will be built within the next couple of decades.
31:45So, stay tuned.
31:46So, stay tuned.