XICHANG SATELLITE LAUNCH CENTER, CHINA — China’s Yutu 2 moon rover has spotted an as yet unidentified, cube-shaped, ‘mystery hut’ on the far side of the moon, according to Space.com.
The rover became the first to land safely on the moon’s far side when it touched down on January 3, 2019, and since then has been very slowly making its way northwest, through the Von Karman crater within the South Pole-Aitken Basin.
It spotted the unknown object on the horizon to the north, roughly 80 meters away from it in November, on the mission's 36th lunar day, according to Space.com.
However, despite much recent interest, space journalist Andrew Jones tweeted that the object was likely nothing more mysterious than a boulder, which can be excavated by objects hitting the moon.
This theory chimes with Yutu 2’s other work, mapping varying layers of the moon’s subsurface generated by space debris impacts, according to a Science Advances study and, in fact, Space.com explains that although a Yutu 2 diary published by a science outreach channel affiliated with the China National Space Administration referred to the object as a ‘mystery hut,’ this was meant as a placeholder name rather than an accurate description.
Whatever it ultimately turns out to be, Yutu 2 is now expected to spend the next 2-3 lunar days (2-3 Earth months) traveling toward it to get a closer look, according to Space.com.