The recently reported “mystery hut” or “house” on the far side of the Moon by China’s Yutu-2 rover has turned out to be actually a rock. While we can’t exactly say this came as a surprise, it’s clear that it provides a definitive answer to the “Moon riddle” that fascinated many in December.
SpaceNews and Space. Andrew Jones, a journalist covering the Chinese space program for com.
The cube-shaped “hut” turned out to be a small, lumpy rock sitting on the rim of a crater. In the first image of the rover, it looked much larger and more mysterious. After getting close and gaining new perspectives, the rover was able to reveal the true nature of the object.
But the story doesn’t end there and it gets even more adorable. The rock’s shrunken shape has earned it the nickname “jade rabbit” because it somewhat resembles a crouching rabbit with a few carrots in front of it. On the “back” side of the rock are some round stones that can be interpreted as rabbits and add to the fun.
The name of the Yutu-2 rover also means Jade Rabbit, so we can say that the rover found its own mascot on the Moon.
Yutu-2 is part of the China National Space Administration’s Chang’e-4 mission, which landed in 2019 to conduct an ambitious (not always dark) exploration of the far side of the Moon. Yutu-2 is solar powered and therefore periodically hibernates until the Sun comes out again. This was the main reason why it took him some time to get closer to the “mystery hut” to get a better view. . .
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