China Rover Discovers “Mystery Hut” On Dark Side Of Moon

A Chinese rover traversing the Von Kármán crater on the far side of the Moon (the portion that faces away from Earth) has stumbled upon a “mystery hut,” according to Space.com, citing a report published by Our Space, a Chinese language science outreach channel affiliated with the China National Space Administration (CNSA).

Yutu 2 spotted the strange cube-shaped object about 262 feet away to the north. A zoomed-in image provides a closer view of the object. 

The Chinese have called the cube-shaped object the “mystery hut.” The rover will take 2-3 lunar days (2-3 Earth months) to arrive at the object. 

Ah. We have an update from Yutu-2 on the lunar far side, including an image of a cubic shape on the northern horizon ~80m away from the rover in Von Kármán crater. Referred to as “神秘小屋” (“mystery house”), the next 2-3 lunar days will be spent getting closer to check it out. pic.twitter.com/LWPZoWN05I

— Andrew Jones (@AJ_FI) December 3, 2021

CNSA has shown strong interest in investigating this mystery object. There’s no definitive answer of what it could be. Some have speculated it’s a boulder from a meteor impact. 

Twitter users joked it could be anything from a Mcdonald’s to a Moon Nazi base. 

Just a matter of time before they built one there. pic.twitter.com/0McobbG9yy

— Binderdunnit (@njpc1888) December 3, 2021

😱😱🤯😜 pic.twitter.com/OURjDN0ud4

— Στέργιος Ζαμανάκος (@ZamanSt) December 6, 2021

The Yutu-2 began exploring the far side of the Moon in 2019. It’s part of China’s fourth mission to the Moon and the second one that involves a rover. Very little is known about the far side of the Moon, and space observes might have to wait a few months until an answer is found.