Called “the Rosetta Stone of the planets” by Dr. Robert Jastrow, the
first chairman of NASA’s Lunar Exploration Committee, scientists had
hoped by studying the composition of the Moon, to resolve some of the
mysteries of how our planet and solar system came into existence.
However, six Moon landings later, science writer Earl Ubell declared,
“… the lunar Rosetta Stone remains a mystery. The Moon is more
complicated than anyone expected; it is not simply a kind of billiard
ball frozen in space and time, as many scientists had believed. Few of
the fundamental questions have been answered, but the Apollo rocks and
recordings have spawned a score of mysteries, a few truly
breath-stopping.”
Among these “breath-stopping” mysteries or anomalies as scientists
prefer to call them is the fact that the Moon is far older than
previously imagined, perhaps even much older than the Earth and Sun. By
examining tracks burned into Moon rocks by cosmic rays, scientists have
dated them as billions of years old. Some have been dated back 4.5
billion years, far older than the Earth and nearly as old as the solar
system.
The Moon has at least three distinct layers of rocks. Contrary to the
idea that heavier objects sink, the heavier rocks are found on the
surface. And there is a definite disparity in the distribution of
minerals. Ubell asked, “If the Earth and Moon were created at the same
time, near each other, why has one body got all the iron [the Earth] and
the other [the Moon] not much?” asked Ubell. “The differences suggest
that Earth and Moon came into being far from each other, an idea that
stumbles over the inability of astrophysicists to explain how exactly
the Moon became a satellite of the Earth.”
The Moon is extremely dry and does not appear to have ever had water
in any substantial amounts. None of the Moon rocks, regardless of where
they were found, contained free water or even water molecules bound into
the minerals. Yet Apollo 16 astronauts found Moon rocks that contained
bits of rusted iron. Since oxidation requires oxygen and free hydrogen,
this rust indicates there must be water somewhere on the Moon.
Furthermore, instruments left behind by Apollo missions sent a signal
to Earth on March 7, 1971, indicating a “wind” of water had crossed the
Moon’s surface. Since any water on the airless Moon surface vaporizes
and behaves like the wind on Earth, the question became where did this
water originate? The vapor cloud eruptions lasted 14 hours and covered
an area of some 100 square miles, prompting Rice University physicists
Dr. John Freeman, Jr. and Dr. H. Ken Hills to pronounce the event one of
“the most exciting discoveries yet” indicating water within the Moon.
The two physicists claimed the water vapor came from deep inside the
Moon, apparently released during a moonquake.
NASA officials offered a more mundane, and questionable, explanation.
They speculated that two tanks on Apollo descent stages containing
between 60 and 100 pounds of water became stressed and ruptured,
releasing their contents. Freeman and Hills declined to accept this
explanation, pointing out that the two tanks — from Apollo 12 and 14 —
were some 180 kilometers apart yet the water vapor was detected with the
same flux at both sites although the instruments faced in opposite
directions. Skeptics also have understandably questioned the odds of two
separate tanks breaking simultaneously and how such a small quantity of
water could produce 100 square miles of vapor.
Moon rocks were found to be magnetized—not strong enough to pick up a
paper clip, but magnetic nevertheless. However, there is no magnetic
field on the Moon itself. So where did the magnetism come from?
The presence of maria, or large seas of smooth solidified molten
rock, also presented a mystery. These maria indicate nothing less than a
vast outpouring of lava at some distant time. It has now been confirmed
that some of the Moon’s craters are of internal origin. Yet there is no
indication that the Moon has ever been hot enough to produce volcanic
eruptions. Another puzzle is that almost all — four-fifths — of the
maria are located on the Moon’s Earthside hemisphere. Few maria mark the
far side of the Moon, often erroneously referred to as the “dark side.”
Yet the far side contains many more craters and mountainous areas.
In comparison to the rest of the Moon, the maria are relatively free
of craters suggesting that craters were covered by lava flow. Adding to
this mystery are the mascons — large dense circular masses lying 20 to
40 miles below the center of the Moon’s maria. The mascons were
discovered because their denseness distorted the orbits of our
spacecraft flying over or near them. One scientist proposed that the
mascons are heavy iron meteorites that plunged deep into the Moon while
it was in a soft, formable stage. This theory has been discounted since
meteorites strike with such high velocities, they would vaporize on
contact.
Another mundane explanation is that the mascons are nothing more than
lava-filled caverns, but skeptics say there isn’t enough lava present
to accomplish this. It would seem these mascons are huge disk-shaped
objects possibly of artificial construction. It is unlikely that large
circular disks located directly under the center of the maria like a
giant bulls-eye happened by accident or coincidence.
Between 1969 and 1977, Apollo mission seismographic equipment
registered up to 3,000 “moonquakes” each year of operation. Most of the
vibrations were quite small and were caused by meteorite strikes or
falling booster rockets. But many other quakes were detected deep inside
the Moon. This internal creaking is believed to be caused by the
gravitational pull of our planet as most moonquakes occur when the Moon
is closest to the Earth.
An event occurred in 1958 in the Moon’s Alphonsus crater, which shook
the idea that all internal moonquake activity was simply settling
rocks. In November of that year, Soviet astronomer Nikolay A. Kozyrev of
the Crimean Astrophysical Observatory startled the scientific world by
photographing the first recorded gaseous eruption on the Moon near the
crater’s peak. Kozyrev attributed this to escaping fluorescent gases. He
also detected a reddish glow characteristic of carbon compounds, which
“seemed to move and disappeared after an hour.”
Some scientists refused to accept Kozyrev’s findings until
astronomers at the Lowell Observatory also saw reddish glows on the
crests of ridges in the Aristarchus region in 1963. Days later, colored
lights on the Moon lasting more than an hour were reported at two
separate observatories.
Something was going on inside the volcanically dead Moon. And
whatever it is, it occurs the same way at the same time. As the Moon
moves closer to the Earth, seismic signals from different stations on
the lunar surface detect identical vibrations. It is difficult to accept
this movement as a natural phenomenon. For example, a broken artificial
hull plate could shift exactly the same way each time the Moon passed
near the Earth.
There is evidence to indicate the Moon may be hollow. Studies of Moon
rocks indicate that the Moon’s interior differs from the Earth’s mantle
in ways suggesting a very small, or even nonexistent, core. As far back
as 1962, NASA scientist Dr. Gordon MacDonald stated, “If the
astronomical data are reduced, it is found that the data require that
the interior of the Moon be less dense than the outer parts. Indeed, it
would seem that the Moon is more like a hollow than a homogeneous
sphere.”
Apollo 14 astronaut Dr. Edgar Mitchell, while scoffing at the
possibility of a hollow moon, nevertheless admitted that since heavier
materials were on the surface, it is quite possible that giant caverns
exist within the Moon. MIT’s Dr. Sean C. Solomon wrote, “The Lunar
Orbiter experiments vastly improved our knowledge of the Moon’s
gravitational field … indicating the frightening possibility that the
Moon might be hollow.”
Why frightening? The significance was stated by astronomer Carl Sagan
way back in his 1966 work Intelligent Life in the Universe, “A natural
satellite cannot be a hollow object.”
The most startling evidence that the Moon could be hollow came on
November 20, 1969, when the Apollo 12 crew, after returning to their
command ship, sent the lunar module (LM) ascent stage crashing back onto
the Moon creating an artificial moonquake. The LM struck the surface
about 40 miles from the Apollo 12 landing site where ultra-sensitive
seismic equipment recorded something both unexpected and astounding—the
Moon reverberated like a bell for more than an hour. The vibration wave
took almost eight minutes to reach a peak, and then decreased in
intensity. At a news conference that day, one of the co-directors of the
seismic experiment, Maurice Ewing, told reporters that scientists were
at a loss to explain the ringing. “As for the meaning of it, I’d rather
not make an interpretation right now. But it is as though someone had
struck a bell, say, in the belfry of a church a single blow and found
that the reverberation from it continued for 30 minutes.”
It was later established that small vibrations had continued on the
Moon for more than an hour. The phenomenon was repeated when the Apollo
13’s third stage was sent crashing onto the Moon by radio command,
striking with the equivalent of 11 tons of TNT. According to NASA, this
time the Moon “reacted like a gong.” Although seismic equipment was more
than 108 miles from the crash site, recordings showed reverberations
lasted for three hours and 20 minutes and traveled to a depth of 22 to
25 miles.
Subsequent studies of man-made crashes on the Moon yielded similar
results. After one impact the Moon reverberated for four hours. This
ringing coupled with the density problem on the Moon reinforces the idea
of a hollow moon. Scientists hoped to record the impact of a meteor
large enough to send shock waves to the Moon’s core and back and settle
the issue. That opportunity came on May 13, 1972, when a large meteor
stuck the Moon with the equivalent force of 200 tons of TNT. After
sending shock waves deep into the interior of the Moon, scientists were
baffled to find that none returned, confirming that there is something
unusual about the Moon’s core, or lack thereof.
Dr. Farouk El Baz was quoted as saying, “There are many undiscovered
caverns suspected to exist beneath the surface of the Moon. Several
experiments have been flown to the Moon to see if there actually were
such caverns.” The results of these experiments have not been made
public.
It seems apparent that the Moon has a tough, hard outer shell and a
light or nonexistent interior. The Moon’s shell contains dense minerals
such as titanium, used on Earth in the construction of aircraft and
space vehicles.
Many people still recall watching our astronauts on TV as they vainly
tried to drill through the crust of a Moon maria. Their specially
designed drills could only penetrate a few inches. The puzzle of the
Moon’s hard surface was compounded by the discovery of what appeared to
be processed metals.
Experts were surprised to find lunar rocks bearing brass, mica and
amphibole in addition to the near-pure titanium. Uranium 236 and
Neptunium 237 — elements not previously found in nature — were
discovered in Moon rocks, according to the Argone National Laboratory.
While still trying to explain the presence of these materials,
scientists were further startled to learn of rust-proof iron particles
in a soil sample from the Sea of Crisis. In 1976, the Associated Press
reported that the Soviets had announced the discovery of iron particles
that “do not rust” in samples brought back by an unmanned Moon mission
in 1970. Iron that does not rust is unknown in nature and well beyond
present Earth technology.
Undoubtedly the greatest mystery concerning our Moon is how it came
to be there in the first place. Prior to the Apollo missions, one
serious theory as to the Moon’s origin was that it broke off of the
Earth eons ago. Although no one could positively locate where on Earth
it originated, many speculated the loss of material explained the huge
gouge in the Earth, which forms the Pacific Ocean. However, this idea
was discarded when it was found that there is little similarity between
the composition of our world and the Moon.
A more recent theory had the Moon created out of space debris left
over from the creation of the Earth. This concept proved untenable in
light of current gravitational theory, which indicates that one large
object will accumulate all loose material, leaving none for the
formation of another large body. It is now generally accepted that the
Moon originated elsewhere and entered the Earth’s gravitational field at
some point in the distant past.
Here theories diverge — one stating that the Moon was originally a
planet which collided with the Earth creating debris which combined
forming the Moon while another states the Moon, while wandering through
our solar system, was captured and pulled into orbit by Earth’s gravity.
Neither of these theories are especially compelling because of the lack
of evidence that neither the Earth nor the Moon seem to have been
physically disrupted by a past close encounter. There is no debris in
space indicating a past collision and it does not appear that the Earth
and the Moon developed during the same time period.
As for the “capture” theory, even scientist Isaac Asimov, well known
for his works of fiction, has written, “It’s too big to have been
captured by the Earth. The chances of such a capture having been
effected and the Moon then having taken up nearly circular orbit around
our Earth are too small to make such an eventuality credible.”
Asimov was right to consider the Moon’s orbit — it is not only nearly
a perfect circle, but stationary, one side always facing the Earth with
only the slightest variation. As far as we know, it’s the only natural
satellite with such an orbit.
This circular orbit is especially odd considering that the Moon’s
center of mass lies more than a mile closer to the Earth than its
geometric center. This fact alone should produce an unstable, wobbly
orbit, much as a ball with its mass off center will not roll in a
straight line. Additionally, almost all of the other satellites in our
solar system orbit in the plane of their planet’s equator. Not so the
Moon, whose orbit lies strangely nearer the Earth’s orbit around the Sun
or inclined to the Earth’s ecliptic by more than five degrees. Add to
this the fact that the Moon’s bulge — located on the side facing away
from Earth — thus negating the idea that it was caused by the Earth’s
gravitational pull — makes for an off-balanced world.
It seems impossible that such an oddity could naturally fall into
such a precise and circular orbit. It is a fascinating conundrum as
articulated by science writer William Roy Shelton, who wrote, “It is
important to remember that something had to put the Moon at or near its
present circular pattern around the Earth. Just as an Apollo spacecraft
circling the Earth every 90 minutes while 100 miles high has to have a
velocity of roughly 18,000 miles per hour to stay in orbit, so something
had to give the Moon the precisely required velocity for its weight and
altitude … The point—and it is one seldom noted in considering the
origin of the Moon — is that it is extremely unlikely that any object
would just stumble into the right combination of factors required to
stay in orbit. ‘Something’ had to put the Moon at its altitude, on its
course and at its speed. The question is: what was that ‘something’?”
If the precise and stationary orbit of the Moon is seen as sheer
coincidence, is it also coincidence that the Moon is at just the right
distance from the Earth to completely cover the Sun during an eclipse?
While the diameter of the Moon is a mere 2,160 miles against the Sun’s
gigantic 864,000 miles, it is nevertheless in just the proper position
to block out all but the Sun’s flaming corona when it moves between the
Sun and the Earth. Asimov explained: “There is no astronomical reason
why the Moon and the Sun should fit so well. It is the sheerest of
coincidences, and only the Earth among all the planets is blessed in
this fashion.”
Is it merely coincidence? How does one explain this and many other Moon mysteries?
In July 1970, two Russian scientists, Mikhail Vasin and Alexander
Shcherbakov, published an article in the Soviet journal Sputnik entitled
“Is the Moon the Creation of Alien Intelligence?” They advanced the
theory that the Moon is not a completely natural world, but a planetoid
that was hollowed out eons ago in the far reaches of space by
intelligent beings possessing a technology far superior to ours. Huge
machines were used to melt rock and form large cavities within the Moon,
spewing the molten refuse onto the surface. Protected by a hull-like
inner shell plus a reconstructed outer shell of metallic rocky junk,
this gigantic craft was steered through the cosmos and finally parked in
orbit around the Earth.
In their article Vasin and Shcherbakov wrote, “Abandoning the
traditional paths of ‘common sense,’ we have plunged into what may at
first sight seem to be unbridled and irresponsible fantasy. But the more
minutely we go into all the information gathered by man about the Moon,
the more we are convinced that there is not a single fact to rule out
our supposition. Not only that, but many things so far considered to be
lunar enigmas are explainable in the light of this new hypothesis.”
Outrageous as the spaceship moon theory might first appear, consider
how this model reconciles all of the mysteries of the Moon. It would
explain why the Moon gives evidence of being much older than the Earth
and perhaps even our solar system and why there are three distinct
layers within the Moon, with the densest materials in the outside layer,
exactly as one would expect of the “hull” of a spacecraft. It could
also explain why no sign of water has been found on the Moon’s surface,
yet there is evidence it exists deep inside. This theory also would
explain the strange maria and mascons, perhaps the remnants of the
machinery used to hollow out the Moon. The idea of an artificial
satellite could explain the odd, rhythmic “moonquakes” as artificial
constructs reacting the same way during periods of stress from the
Earth’s pull. And artificial equipment beneath the Moon’s surface might
be the source of the gas clouds that have been observed.
Intelligent “terraforming” of the Moon could prove the solution to
the argument between “hot moon” and “cold moon” scientists — they are
both right! The Moon originally was a cold world, which was transformed
into a spacecraft by artificially heating and expelling vast quantities
of its interior. This theory also could explain the seeming
contradictions over the question of a hollow moon. If the Moon
originally was a solid world which was artificially hollowed out, there
would be evidence of both phases—exactly what we have with current Moon
knowledge.
An artificially hollowed-out Moon would explain why the satellite
rings like a bell for hours after struck and why specimens of tough,
refractory metals such as titanium, chromium and circonium; “rust-proof”
iron; Uranium 236 and Neptunium 237 have been found there.
In fact, the spaceship moon theory may come closer than any other in
reconciling the questions over the origin and amazing orbit of the Moon.
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