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The moon is hundreds of thousands of miles from Earth, but humanity has played a major role in shaping it for over six decades.
In fact, human exploration has had such a significant impact on changing the lunar surface that some scientists argue that it is time to declare a new geological epoch called the “Lunar Anthropocene”.
Experts say the era began when the former Soviet Union’s unmanned spacecraft, Luna 2, made a hard landing on the moon in September 1959, leaving a crater in its wake.
Since then, hundreds of missions have followed, and whether they crash-landed or successfully touched down for a soft landing, each spacecraft has left its mark.
There are still rovers, science experiments, golf balls and other signs of human exploration sitting on the surface of the moon, and it’s only getting started as more space agencies and countries plan trips to the moon.
The Falcon spacecraft burned up on re-entry into the Earth’s atmosphere Thursday after a fuel leak prevented it from reaching the moon, but another spacecraft was on its way for a lunar rendezvous.
Lunar update
Japan’s robotic “Moon Sniper” probe successfully landed on the surface of the moon on Friday but encountered a critical issue almost immediately.
After making a precision landing, the uncrewed Smart Lander for Investigating Moon, or SLIM, mission had to rely on limited battery power because its solar cell was not generating electricity.
Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency staff said they believe the solar power issue is a result of the spacecraft facing the wrong direction.
But perhaps all hope will not be lost for the lander and its two rovers, which are designed to study the origin of the moon. If the Moon Sniper can awaken some sunlight, the mission can continue.
Long long ago
Before they went extinct about 4,000 years ago, woolly mammoths roamed across North America—and humans followed them.
Researchers were able to track the long journeys by studying mammal tusks, which preserved information about the animals’ environments and diets like time capsules.
By using a precise new tool to study chemical traces in tusk, a team led by scientists at the University of Alaska Fairbanks was able to track the movements of Élmayųujey’eh, or Elma, a female mammoth. lived 14,000 years ago.
When researchers compared Elma’s movements with maps of archaeological sites, it became clear that people had established seasonal hunting camps in areas where mammoths had been gathered.
Wild kingdom
Malaysia’s tigers are disappearing at an alarming rate, with only 150 estimated to remain within the country’s ancient rainforests. To aid conservation efforts, photographer Emmanuel Rondeau partnered with WWF-Malaysia to capture an image of the iconic but absent big cat.
The effort was a huge undertaking that required a team of rangers, eight cameras, 300 pounds of equipment, months of patience and countless miles. In the process, an ant colony overran one camera, and an elephant destroyed another.
But Rondeau’s careful preparations paid off, and he took “a million dollar shot.” “This image is the last image of the Malayan tiger – or the first image of the return of the Malayan tiger,” he said.
Do you want to see more mesmerizing photos? Check out some of the winning images from the Close-up Photographer of the Year 2023 competition, including an oak peacock moth attracting a wedding and ants shooting acid into the air.
Dig this
About 29 million years ago in Oregon, a wren dug an underground nursery in a sandbank near a pond and laid about 50 eggs in a striking radial pattern.
Instead of hatching, the egg pod fossilizes and provides now a rare window into the life of ancient insects.
In general, insects and their delicate eggs do not preserve well in the fossil record. It is even more surprising that the grasshopper nursery has survived since then it was found in an area where water once flowed, according to the researchers.
“There is nothing else like this in the fossil record anywhere that we know of,” said Dr. Nick Famoso, paleontology program manager and museum curator at John Day Fossil Beds National Monument in Mitchell, Oregon.
A force of nature
Winter storms moving across the United States this week brought snow and sub-zero temperatures to many areas – and some in Chicago experienced “frost tremors.”
Frost quakes are loud, booming or popping sounds and are small earthquake-like earthquakes that can occur during a sudden freeze on the ground in cold weather.
Although the noises made by frost shakes are scary, they are not dangerous and won’t take framed photos off the walls, according to Illinois state climatologist Trent Ford.
Scientists hope to unlock more of the mystery of frost quakes, and whether or not they are increasing, by monitoring areas where the phenomenon occurs this winter.
Explorations
You don’t want to miss these exciting new stories:
— A laser mapping technique has helped archaeologists uncover the oldest and largest network of ancient cities discovered in the Amazon rainforest.
– The process involving Retro, a cloned rhesus monkey, has highlighted some of the limitations of cloning, according to scientists.
– NASA and Lockheed Martin unveiled the sleek X-59, a quiet supersonic plane that could change the future of air travel.
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