
Buzz Aldrin said: “That satellite has improved our understanding, our definition, just what the surface of the Moon really looks like, and it ought to stir the imagination in any human being”.
We’ll look at how past explorations first introduced us to this alien realm and discover how Kaguya and other technologies will bring us back, this time to stay. Images like we’ve never seen them, direct from the Moon. The surface of the Moon, a place of haunting beauty. Today, vivid high-definition images like these are being transmitted back to Earth from a sophisticated spacecraft called Kaguya. And with them, a whole new perspective on the Moon. The Japanese Aerospace Exploration Agency blasted the Kaguya satellite into space in September 2007. It’s been orbiting 60 miles above the Moon’s surface, ever since. At 3 tons and 16 feet long, Kaguya is roughly the size of a large pickup truck, and boasts 14 sophisticated tools including special cameras, spectrometers, a magnetometer and a plasma imager.
Carlton Allen said: “The Japanese Kaguya spacecraft is really providing spectacular data unlike anything we’ve seen before, making measurements of depth that we have never had before”.
Incredible images like these may finally help us solve the mysteries of the Moon and give us new insight into the origins and evolution of planet Earth. The Earth and Moon share a dramatic past. Scientists believe that 4.5 billion years ago, a rogue body as big as Mars, smashed into our young planet, forever changing its destiny. They call this event the Giant Impact. The spectacular collision turns Earth into a blazing ball of molten rock firing up our atmosphere to several thousand degrees Fahrenheit, and flings many trillions of tons of rocky debris into out orbit. This debris begins to collide and merge, and eventually, the Moon is born. The power of gravity has tethered it to Earth ever since, orbiting around 236,000 miles away. The Moon shines back at us each might with the same familiar face. In its glow, we may see a man in the Moon, or a rabbit… but what the Kaguya satellite sees is a new set of clues about the Moon’s unique composition. This smooth, dark plain is called the Sea of Rains. The dark areas are craters filled with ancient lava flows, and is typical of the terrain facing the Earth. The patterns we know as the face of the Moon are actually a combination of numerous craters that were long ago filled with dark lava. This is the only side of the Moon we can see from Earth. The far side of the Moon, mistakenly referred to as the dark side, has a vastly different terrain. It gets the same amount of sunlight, but has more giant craters and hardly any trace of dark lava. The question is, why are the two sides so different? Dr. Noriyuki Namiki is studying this phenomenon by using Kaguya’s unique scientific instruments.
Dr. Noriyuki Namiki said: “Numerous lunar probes have been launched to study the Moon’s surface, so we know a lot about that. But in order to find out about the Moon’s history, we need to go below the surface and look inside”.
He believes that the satellite's orbital path holds the key to understanding the moon's internal structure. This is because the Moon's gravitational pull varies along the satellite's trajactory. By precisely measuring changes to map the gravitational fields. Kaguya uses an innovative satellite-to-sub-satellite system to relay data when it's on the far side of the Moon. These red spots highlight areas on the near side of the Moon with a stronger than usual gravitational pull, indicating high density mass under the surface. There is no such area on the far side of the Moon. Instead, these blue spots reveal areas where the gravitational force is weaker than usual, indicating low-density mass undernearth.
Dr. Noriyuki Namiki said: “When the results of the first observation came out, we were elated. It was this feeling of. Yes, we were right! We knew there was a difference in the surface of the far side and that of the near side. But the different patterns in the gravitational field indicate that the differences are not just superficial, they go deep”.
So, what caused these big structural differences in the Moon’s inner core? Dr. Kiyoshi Kuramoto believes the Earth holds the key. The moon’s orbital path was once much closer to the Earth than it is today, so much so that gravity pulled it into an egg shape. As the Moon’s orbit moved farther away from the Earth, it assumed its spherical shape. But there were lasting effects. Earth’s gravitational force is believed to have dragged softened rock to me side. And as a result, uranium and other radioactive substances became concentrated on the near side of the Moon. These superheated materials melted deeper rock, which erupted as heavy lava. And the Moon’s near side gained its signature pattern of dark and light.
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