In a startling new discovery, Chinese rover Yutu-2 has discovered mysterious glass spheres on the other side of the moon. The paper detailing the discovery has been published in Science Bulletin. “Collectively, the peculiar morphology, geometry, and local context of the glass globules are consistent with being anorthositic impact glasses,” the researchers wrote.

The mysterious glass spheres may have captured within them important information about the Moon’s composition and history of its impact events, a report suggested. Chinese rover Yutu-2 was scheduled to be operational on the lunar surface for just three months. But now it holds the record of being the longest operational rover on the Moon.

In January 2019, when Yutu-2 landed on the lunar surface, it became the first rover to reach the far side of the Moon. Since then it has been providing us insights about the side we cannot see from Earth. Last month, the rover sent proves that the soil on the far side is a lot stickier, and now there is the mystery of the glass spheres.

Glass on moon

There is a lot of silicate material on the lunar surface and what can turn it into the glass is intense heat.

The Moon was home to volcanic eruptions in past.

But even today, impact from smaller objects like meteorites generates sufficient heat to make glass.