We had a visit from our friend Science Jim yesterday on the far side of the moon. He’s been busy unraveling the mysteries of physics and thought he’d drop by for a spot of tea before following the trail of the elusive inflaton.
Science Jim left his assistant Phyllis to help us work on the Moon Explorer base. Little did he know that Phyllis was going to present us with a tricky mystery too! We need your help to solve it.
Here’s what happened: Continue reading
The moon looks so placid from your planet Earth. Many cadets would be surprised to learn that the moon has some secret moves that you just can’t see with the naked eye.
According to scientists, the moon may still be shrinking. This shrinkage triggers moon-quakes that can shake our moon boots off! The Apollo crew noticed these little wrinkles (called lobate scarps) over 40 years ago near the moon’s equator but with the help of NASA’s Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO), they’ve recently discovered 14 more scattered locations!
What causes the moon to shrink? According to scientists the moon is still has periods of cooling off which makes the inner structure of the moon to contract. These contractions can trigger a moonquake which in turns create the lobate scarps.
Back during the Apollo missions in the 1970s, astronauts left earthquake detectors called “seismometers” on the moon to help scientists learn more about it. With the help of the data from these seismometers and the images provided by the LRO, scientists are going to test their theory that these scarps are the result of the lunar earthquakes which would indicate that the moon isn’t finished shrinking.
But don’t worry about the moon suddenly disappearing from your night sky — it’s take the moon one billion years just to shrink 200 meters! Just how far is 200 meters? Well, if you were Usain Bolt, you could run that distance in just 19.19 seconds! Not a very big distance at all.
So while you’re exploring the moon, see if you can find those scarps that the astronomers have been watching. Maybe you can find one that they missed!
I am happy to announce that Mad Scientist Bong and I are currently developing a new game for the Senior Cadets (known as teenagers on your planet) to expand their skills. It’s called “Moon Explorer”. I don’t want to give too much away but suffice it to say that doing experiments in zero gravity will be quite a challenge.
Here at MTP Labs we’re working hard to make sure that you’ll have plenty of opportunity to stretch your skills and your imagination. While you’re waiting for Moon Explorer to open, why not see how skilled you are as a pilot (as well as expanding your botany skills) at Recyclotron Plant Harvester? It’s excellent training for the more difficult missions such as Power-Up Plants and Megalicious Plant Harvester.
We’ll have more updates as time goes by, so be sure to stop by the Labs on the regular. You may now resume your regular duties. Thank you for your attention.
