Did you know the Moon is slowly drifting away from Earth? 🌙🚀 It’s moving about 1.5 inches (3.8 cm) farther every year, which might not sound like a big deal, but over millions of years, it adds up! This shift affects Earth’s tides, changes our planet’s rotation, and could even mess with the length of our days in the distant future. Scientists say that in 600 million years, the Moon will be too far away to cause total solar eclipses anymore. 😲 While that’s not an immediate problem, if the Moon keeps moving away, Earth’s stability could change drastically. Let’s just hope we’ve figured out space travel by then! 🚀✨ Animation is created by Bright Side. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Music from TheSoul Sound: https://thesoul-sound.com/
Check our Bright Side podcast on Spotify and leave a positive review! https://open.spotify.com/show/0hUkPxD34jRLrMrJux4VxV Subscribe to Bright Side: https://goo.gl/rQTJZz ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Our Social Media: Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/brightplanet/ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/brightside.official TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@brightside.official?lang=en
Stock materials (photos, footages and other): https://www.depositphotos.com https://www.shutterstock.com https://www.eastnews.ru ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- For more videos and articles visit: http://www.brightside.me ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- This video is made for entertainment purposes. We do not make any warranties about the completeness, safety and reliability. Any action you take upon the information in this video is strictly at your own risk, and we will not be liable for any damages or losses. It is the viewer's responsibility to use judgement, care and precaution if you plan to replicate.
05:10But can this activity on the moon actually affect humans?
05:14In a sense, it can.
05:16The moon has long been seen as a stable place for future bases and resource extraction.
05:22But the discovery of this ongoing geological activity is pretty worrying.
05:27If the surface is still shifting, future settlements, infrastructure, and mining operations could face serious risks.
05:35That's why, at the moment, we need seismometers and ground-penetrating radars to better understand these movements.
05:42It will allow us to assess potential dangers before any long-term missions begin.
05:47By the way, there's another potential problem future lunar missions might have to deal with.
05:53It's moon dust, a.k.a. regolith.
05:57Apollo astronauts quickly learned that this jagged, sticky dust gets everywhere
06:02and can damage suits, equipment, and even health.
06:06A new study from Texas A&M engineers found another problem.
06:10When rockets land or take off, they kick up regolith, which can become a collision hazard,
06:16especially with many spacecraft bringing crews and cargo to the moon.
06:21Lunar regolith comes in all sizes, from tiny dust particles to large rocks.
06:27The main ingredient in moon dust is fine silicate materials about 70 microns in size, like a human hair.
06:35They formed over billions of years as meteors and asteroids smashed into the moon's surface, grinding much of it into powder.
06:44Unlike Earth, the moon has almost no atmosphere.
06:48It's incredibly thin, so there's no wind or water to smooth out the dust.
06:53On top of that, constant exposure to solar wind has given the regolith an electrostatic charge,
06:59making it stick to anything it touches.
07:02Apollo astronauts quickly found this out the hard way.
07:06Moon dust clung to their suits, got trapped inside their landers, and stuck to everything.
07:11Worse, it became a health hazard, causing eye irritation and breathing problems inside their spacecraft.
07:18But at the moment, it seems like a problem for future us.
07:22A much more important issue is finding water to support future missions, and China is going to deal with it.
07:29It's getting ready for a big mission to look for hidden ice on the moon.
07:34As part of the Chang'e 7 mission in 2026, a flying robot will explore deep craters at the moon's south pole, where ice might be trapped.
07:44If they manage to confirm it, this could be a game-changer for future lunar missions.
07:50Astronauts will have a water source and even fuel for space travel.
07:55The mission is a key step in China's plan to land astronauts on the moon within five years.
08:01While signs of water have been found before, like in soil samples from Chang'e 5's probe and observations by NASA and Indian spacecraft,
08:10scientists believe that deep ice deposits are the real key to supporting future missions.
08:16The south pole of the moon has some incredibly deep craters, and experts think ice could be hiding inside them.
08:23The flying robot will try to explore one or more of these craters after landing.
08:29If it does find the ice, it could make long-term moon missions much cheaper and more practical, helping astronauts live and work on the moon.
08:38Some scientists also think that this discovery could offer us some clues about extraterrestrial life.
08:45In any case, whether we find water on the moon and learn to deal with that pesky dust or not, the recent discovery of those young lunar ridges is a game-changer.
08:56If the moon is still geologically active, it means we don't know as much about our closest neighbor as we thought.
09:03What else could the moon be hiding?
09:05Are we really prepared for the idea that this lifeless satellite might actually be more dynamic than we imagined?
09:12Future missions, which might not be as safe as we once believed, will probably show.
09:20That's it for today! So, hey, if you pacified your curiosity, then give the video a like and share it with your friends.
09:26Or if you want more, just click on these videos and stay on the Bright Side!
