China’s Yutu-2 lunar rover has discovered a strange “gel-like” substance on the dark side of the moon.
The rover launched as part of the Chang’e 4 mission, which has been on the moon since January.
It has meant Yutu-2 is the the first robot to ever explore the moon’s far side and has previously discovered that the composition of the moon’s surface is different to what scientists expected.
Yutu-2 previously found the moon’s surface was different to what scientists were expecting. Pic: China National Space Administration
Now, the rover has also discovered a substance in a crater during an exploration activity.
Yu Tianyi, a team member on Earth, was reviewing images taken by the rover when the material was discovered.
Yutu-2 had been due to move on but the team instead decided to examine the substance found on the ground.
The team’s website describes the material’s shape and colour as “significantly different from the surrounding lunar soil”.
China is yet to share images of the material, but it did share an image from the rover heading into the crater to take a sample of the material.
One theory is that the material is an impactite, a substance which is formed when meteors hit an object in space.
The Chang’e 4 mission craft landed on the moon back in January, while the Yutu-2 rover has been sending back photos to Earth for the past 18 weeks.
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