Produced by: Manoj Kumar
A colossal asteroid strike billions of years ago reshaped the moon’s surface, carving two immense canyons on its far side—hidden scars of a violent past.
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NASA’s Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter mapped the impact site, revealing that the asteroid’s debris carved canyons comparable to the Grand Canyon in just minutes.
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The impact sent boulders hurtling at nearly 1 mile per second, turning lunar terrain into a battlefield of destruction, reshaping the moon almost instantly.
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Older lunar rocks near the south pole, untouched by this catastrophe, hold crucial clues about both the moon’s and Earth’s origins, awaiting discovery by future astronauts.
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David Kring, a planetary geologist, estimated that the energy unleashed was 130 times greater than the world’s current nuclear arsenal—an explosion of unimaginable scale.
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NASA’s Artemis program, tasked with sending astronauts back to the moon, now has clearer insight into safe landing zones free from the ancient impact’s debris.
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Scientists suspect the canyons may house permanently shadowed regions, potentially containing lunar ice that could be transformed into water and rocket fuel.
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The older, untouched lunar terrain may offer a pristine geological record from over 4 billion years ago, preserving secrets of our solar system’s chaotic infancy.
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NASA’s upcoming moon missions will provide a closer look at these canyons, revealing their true depth and their potential role in future lunar colonization.
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