A photograph of a cube-like object captured by a Chinese rover on the far side of the moon has fanned speculation over what it could be and inspired a host of memes by Chinese Internet users.
The Yutu-2 caught an image of what seems like a large cubic object on the horizon about 80m from its location, said Our Space, a Chinese government science Web site, citing the rover’s last log on Friday last week.
Under the hashtag “Yutu’s latest discovery,” a series of Internet memes showed the rover rolling over the lunar plain toward a pair of obelisks, a tall monolith, and even a giant hammer and sickle — the symbol of the Chinese Communist Party.
Photo: AFP / China National Space Administration via CNS
“It’s space junk left behind by the US,” one Chinese Internet user wrote in a social media post.
“Get a bit closer, and you’d see it’s a nucleic acid test site for COVID-19,” another quipped.
“It’s the home of aliens!” a third wrote in mock horror.
Others suggested a more mundane possibility — it is just a boulder.
The solar-powered Yutu, or “Jade Rabbit” in Chinese, could cover the distance of 80m in two to three lunar days, or two to three Earth months, Our Space said.
The robotic rover has been operating in the Von Karman Crater in the South Pole-Aitken Basin since its deployment in January 2019.
The mission was a historic first, with no other nation having landed on the far side of the moon until then.
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