Lastyear,wecelebrated50yearssincehumansfirstwalkedonthemoon.Thatwasalongtimeago.Yet,we’restillexploringspacetoday.What’sintherestofoursolarsystem?We’vesentlotsofspacecrafttofindout.Thesemissionsareall unmanned.
Oneofthelatestmissionswentbacktothemoon,buttoadifferentpartofit.ThemoongoesaroundEarthonceamonth.AndthesamesidealwaysfacesEarth.Thatnearsideisthepartwehavealwaysvisitedwithmenorunmanned spacecraft.
In2019,Chinalandedaspacecraftonthefarsideofthemoon.Itlandedinahugecrater.Billionsofyearsago,alargeobjecthitthisarea.Itcarvedoutthecraterandkickeduprocksfromthemoon’smantle.Thespacecraftwillstudythese rocks.
AviewofEarthfromthesurfaceofthe moon
near side
Luna 9
Apollo 11
far side
Chang'e-4
Alllandings—mannedorunmanned—happenedonthenearsideofthemoon.AnunmannedChinesespacecraftrecentlylandedonthefar side.
former USSR
United States
manned Apollo missions
China
Measuring'Marsquakes'
Themoonislarge,butit’snotaplanet.Planetsarelarge,round,andorbit,orgoaround,thesun.Ourmoondoesn’torbitthesun.ItgoesaroundEarth.OneofthenearestplanetstoEarthisMars.Peoplemaytravelthere someday.
In2018,theUnitedStates’NationalAeronauticsandSpaceAdministration(NASA)landedaspacecraftonMars.It’sstudyingthingsthatarehappeninginsidetheplanet.In2019,thecraftdetectedthefirst“earthquakes,”or“marsquakes,”everobservedonthe planet.
Thisartist’srenderingshowsaspacecrafttestingfor Marsquakes.
Assessing
Asteroids
BeyondMarsarelotsofsmall,rockyobjectsthatgoaroundthesun.Theseareasteroids.Asteroidsaresmallandirregular.TheyareimportanttostudybecauselongagoobjectssimilartothemcametogethertobuildrockyplanetslikeEarthandMars.Asteroidsmayhavevaluablemineralswecouldmine someday.
SomeasteroidscomeclosetoEarth.AJapanesespacecraftisexploringonenamedRyugu.Itisshapedlikeacubewithlotsofboulders.Lastyear,thespacecraftshotalarge"bullet"attheasteroid.Theblastkickedupmaterial,someofwhichthespacecraftcaughtandwillbringhomefor study.
AUnitedStates(U.S.)spacecraftisexploringanasteroidnamedBennu.Thespacecraftwillsampletheasteroidandlaterbringthatsamplebackto Earth.
ThisimageshowstheBennuasteroidnexttotheEiffelTower,for scale.
