China's Yutu-2 rover just won't stop making strange Moon discoveries. Previously it found a cube-shaped object on Moon and, now Chinese space officials have announced the discovery of several mysterious glass spheres on the far side of the lunar surface.
The researchers behind the discovery described the objects as "translucent glass globules" in a study published in the journal Science Bulletin.
The spheres, which are around a centimeter in diameter, were discovered in photographs acquired by the panoramic camera on the Yutu-2 rover on the Moon's dark side.
While it is obviously surprising, glass has previously been discovered on the Moon as a result of meteorite strikes or the Moon's historical volcanic activity.
However, the glass that Yutu-2 is said to have detected is exceptional since the spheres are larger than glass generally found on the Moon, according to scientists. Furthermore, the most recent glass examples have a distinct light brown color and are transparent.
"The globules simply blow our minds since they are so unique on the Moon," said Dr. Zhiyong Xiao, an associate professor at Sun Yat-sen University's Planetary Environmental and Astrobiological Research Laboratory and the study's primary author.
According to Xiao, the discovery might imply that similar glass spheres are abundant on the Moon's far side. If that's the case, he believes it may be a very significant resource for future moon colonies to create glass for building materials or equipment.
All in all, this is an amazing discovery and raises quite a lot of questions regarding the surface of the Moon on the far side.
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