UNIVERS EXPLORE Moon Documentry

Transcript

00:00The Moon, our nearest sinister neighbour.

00:26Though its face hasn't changed, the Moon has a violent and dynamic history that spans

00:31billions of years.

00:33Thanks to NASA's Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter, we now understand both how the Moon formed

00:39and how we explore it today.

00:41From year to year, the Moon seems still, its craters and planes frozen in time.

00:47But it wasn't always like this.

00:50Roughly 4.5 billion years ago, a giant collision between Earth and a Mars-sized object formed

00:57a ring of debris.

00:59That debris crossed into a molten sphere, the Newborn Moon.

01:04As it called, a crust formed about the sea of magma.

01:07Then, around 4.3 billion years ago, a massive impact near the South Pole created the South

01:13Pole 18 Basin, sending debris all the way to the far side of the Moon.

01:19This was just the beginning.

01:21Over millions of years, more enormous collisions coupled with the lunar surface, carving out

01:27deep basins.

01:29These later became the Maria, dark patches we see today, as lava seeped through cracks in

01:37the thin crust filling the basins.

01:41The volcanic rock that fills them was rich in iron and darker than the surrounding highlands,

01:47giving the Moon its iconic face.

01:50About 1 billion years ago, volcanic activity on the near side ceased.

01:57Smaller meteorites continued to bombard the surface, creating recognisable features like Tycho, Copernicus, and Aristarchus creators.

02:22Their bright rays stretching across the Moon's face.

02:43Today, the Moon remains a celestial fossil, preserving its own story and offering a glimpse into the

02:50early history of the Earth.

02:52Now, let's take a journey across the modern lunar landscape, seen through the eyes of the

02:58lunar reconnaissance orbiter.

03:00The Moon is our nearest neighbour in space, and data we gather from its features can tell

03:08us a lot about the rest of our solar system.

03:12And through the eyes of the LR spacecraft, we can explore the lunar surface in all new ways

03:18in fascinating detail.

03:20Our tour begins on the western border, where the near side of the Moon meets the far side.

03:26The enormous feature is the lunar equator, and is known as the Oriental Basin.

03:31Here, Eloros Terran map combines with the surface gravity measurement from the Quayle mission.

03:37This data reveals structure in the lunar crust beneath the surface, giving us a window into

03:43the geologic features of the Moon's interior.

03:47Our next location receives little direct sunlight and has some of the coldest recorded temperatures

03:52in the solar system, the South Pole.

03:55The highlighted spots signify potential water-ice, based on temperature readings from Eloros Divina

04:02instrument and reflectance from its laser alternator Lola.

04:06Lola also allows us to peer into the darkness of Shackleton Crater by bringing us this digital

04:12elevation model.

04:17It's 21 km wide and 4 km deep, but it pales in comparison to the largest non-impact crater

04:25in the Earth-Moon system, the South Pole-Eckon Basin.

04:31Sitting on the far side, it's 2,500 km across and 13 km deep.

04:37We don't yet know exactly how old the basin is, but it was first seen in the global

04:421960s by spacecraft flying around the far side.

04:48As much as we use Eloros data to investigate areas we can't see from Earth, we also probe

04:54familiar tertiary on the lunar near side to bring back images with all new level of detail.

04:59This is Tygo Crater, it's around 100 billion years old.

05:10Here, the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter Canberra captures the central peak with the 100-meter-wide

05:15boulder at the summit, the origins of which are still a mystery.

05:20Listening across moons near side, we will arrive in an area ripe for future explorations.

05:27Due to the diversity of impact and volcanic materials, it features a prominent crater

05:32so bright it's not only visible through telescopes but also to the naked eye.

05:38Welcome to the Aristarchus Plata.

05:40Here, infrared shows the mineral pyroxene in orange and a splash of plagioclase in blue

05:45from Aristarchus crater.

05:47This region can tell us a lot about the rich volcanic history of the Moon.

05:54As much as we study the Moon looking for sites to visit, we also look back at places we've

06:00already been.

06:01This is because the new data that LRO is gathering helps us interpret the geology of familiar places,

06:08giving scientists a better understanding of the sequence of events in early lunar history.

06:14Here, we descend to the Apollo 17 landing site in the Taurus Littoral Valley, which is deeper

06:20than the Grand Canyon.

06:21The path the astronauts took over the course of three days is shown.

06:25The Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter camera is even able to capture a view of the bottom

06:31half of the Apollo 17 lunar lander, which still fits on the surface as well as the rover vehicle.

06:40These images help preserve our accomplishment of human exploration on the Moon's surface.

06:47Moving onward, we make our way to our final destination.

06:51The location contains regions that exist in permanent shadow,

06:55as well as ones that bask in nearly perpetual light.

06:59The North Pole

07:00Detailed terrain measurements by Lola allow scientists to model sunlight

07:06and shadow at the poles over decades and centuries.

07:09Solid peaks and crater rims here may be ideal locations for generating solar power for future

07:15expeditions to the Moon.

07:17This updated visualization of the lunar landscape stands as a testament to the functionality and

07:22abilities of the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter spacecraft.

07:25And as the mission continues to gather data, it will provide us with many more opportunities

07:31to take a tour of our Moon.

07:33To be continued...

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