> “Scientists could be a step closer to solving the mystery of how the surface of the moon got its weathered and cratered appearance”
Is this really a mystery? Earth gets hit every day by tons of micrometeorites, most of which burn up in the atmosphere before ever hitting what we call ground or “the surface.”
The moon has no atmosphere, so the obvious conclusion is that anything that encounters the moon ends up hitting its surface head-on.
This is made clear by the spectral imaging and false color maps used to analyze the make-up of the moon’s surface. [0]
Every crater is essentially within a larger crater.
It can happen with hollow spheres. Seismic waves, however, do not travel through hollow spheres in the same way, and we have a number of seismometers on the Moon that have measured the impacts of recent spacecraft. As well, we've used satellites to measure the gravity variations of the moon to help identify variations in its (solid) structure.
So all the governments of the world are in on the plot to hide the true nature of the Moon. They go as far as faking gravity research data from satellites. (Seems like it might be a bit easier to just not fund this research in the first place, but whatever.)
What’s inside the hollow Moon that requires this kind of coordinated long-term secrecy by governments that mostly don’t agree about anything? Russia, America, China, India, Japan, Europe — they all do moon research, so they must all be part of this.
I'm confused. If all the data from probes and satellites is an elaborate fake, what difference does it make to send a few astronauts? They can't report the real data either.
The reason why we haven't been to the Moon is that it's very expensive to go, especially with contemporary safety standards. The Artemis program is projected to cost around $100 billion. There's nothing on the Moon that would provide a direct return on that investment.
For starters what's the outside made out of if it's hollow that explains why, gravitationally, it appears not to be hollow.
All known aspects of the moon are better explained by it not being hollow. Even if it turns out to be hollow, it's currently ridiculous to believe that given the current body of knowledge.
I am genuinely curious what kind of mental model of the physical universe leads someone to look at a 3000km-diameter sphere of rock, or any matter at all, and say "yeah, I think that's actually hollow". Especially as the presence of the moon is one of the oldest, most observed and recorded natural phenomena in human history. It's not like it turned up one day or has ever been seen to do anything other than plod around its orbit dead on time.
How would it form? Why doesn't it collapse inwards? Why does it weigh so much?
I mean, sure, it could be an ancient alien ship with a superdense unobtainium shell to have exactly the same gravity as a rock ball but why would they park it so close that they need to cover it in regolith?
Then again some people think a virus is somehow caused by radio waves and active remote-controlled microchips can be suspended in clear liquid so the whole world must be like wandering through Wonderland all the time. There are no rules and anything can happen.
David Weber actually wrote a series once where aliens (actually humans) hollowed out the Moon (dumping the material into the sun) to use the rest as camouflage for a Moon-sized spaceship hiding from other aliens (actually aliens). It was pretty clearly him taking the p*ss on the entire topic, but it's seen multiple editions and I believe is still in print. I guess there's something about the idea that attracts some people?
Is this really a mystery? Earth gets hit every day by tons of micrometeorites, most of which burn up in the atmosphere before ever hitting what we call ground or “the surface.”
The moon has no atmosphere, so the obvious conclusion is that anything that encounters the moon ends up hitting its surface head-on.
This is made clear by the spectral imaging and false color maps used to analyze the make-up of the moon’s surface. [0]
Every crater is essentially within a larger crater.
[0]https://www.usgs.gov/news/national-news-release/usgs-release...