Mining of Soviet moon
Soviet cosmonauts did not visit the Moon, Soviet automatic machines gave scientists a lot of new information. Thanks to lunar rovers, many images of the Moon's surface, albeit not of very high quality, were obtained. This helps, in particular, to choose the most suitable landing locations.
The moon rovers were equipped with the Rhyming device, which studied the elemental composition of the surface using X-ray fluorescence analysis. The surface composition was measured at different locations.
It turned out that the closer we got to the lunar mainland - the mountainous and crater-spotted part of the lunar surface - the more calcium and less iron, there. Conversely, the further away from the mainland, the more iron and less calcium.
On the “Lunokhod-2” was installed Soviet magnetometer SG-70A, which continuously, during movement and night stops, measured interplanetary magnetic fields, which are distorted by the interaction with the body of the moon.
Characteristic variations of the magnetic field on the Moon's surface when the lunar rover was not moving were recorded. The data of these observations said something about the internal structure of the Moon.
A special experiment was carried out when the moon rover crossed the same small crater several times. Since its motors were electric, there were very strong electromagnetic noises, pickups. A team of magnetologists from Pahra removed these noises and showed that a small crater, about 10-20 meters across, could affect the magnetic field. And scientists from the Institute of Geosphere Dynamics explained how meteorite impacts affect the magnetic field of the moon.
A high-speed impact causes a plasma flash, and minerals such as titanomagnetite memorize it. In addition, the Crimean observatory installed a device on Lunokhod-2 that looked up at night. This device recorded a weak glow — a sign there is a dusty, very thin atmosphere above the Moon. Another device measured cosmic radiation for a long period. How Apollo expeditions help to study the MoonApollo astronauts installed seismographs on the surface of the moon. Seismographs “Apollo 17” were supplemented with a small mortar and fired small charges, which allowed to measure the structure at a depth of about first hundreds of meters. Seismographs installed in this and other places of landing, recorded the impact of large meteorites, which allowed you to see the lunar depths to a greater depth. In addition, these observations helped to discover that the moon was shaking. These moonquakes occur under the influence of the Earth's gravitational influence when the Moon comes closest to it.
About twenty weak surface moonquakes with a magnitude of up to 3.5 have been recorded. The lunar rovers were also equipped with the PRP tool, a device for estimating passability, which measured the physical and mechanical properties of the lunar soil. It was a cone with petals, which was embedded in the surface, in the ground. The penetration force was measured: if the ground was weak, the tool was easy to penetrate, if it were strong, it was difficult to introduce the device there. These soil strength measurements were linked by geologists to geological observations. Since 2010, the American Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter has been circulating around the Moon, which captures the surface at a very high resolution.
A group of American geologists began to carefully study the vast array of new images. And they found traces of tectonic disturbances: overthrust, winding ridges, known before. But here it turned out that some of these tectonic formations are disturbed by small craters, and this suggests that some of these overthrustes and the ridge is very young - not older than a dozen million years. Could a moonquake lead to such formations? It is not clear yet. On Earth, the formation of such tremors is accompanied by earthquakes. Probably, it happens on the Moon.
And finally, as it was said above, seismographs have given information about the structure of the Moon inside. The velocities of longitudinal and transverse waves are recalculated into densities, which give information about the mineral composition of the planet. Soviet lunar rovers and American astronauts have placed several corner reflectors on the surface of the moon.
What is this? If you take the box and cut off the angle from it, and then silver the inner surface and direct the beam there, it will be reflected strictly in the opposite direction. So the laser beams are sent to the Moon from the Earth, and the reflectors placed there return them. This allows to measure the distance between the lasers on the Earth and the reflector on the Moon with an accuracy of millimeters.
With this data, we can detect the imperfections in the Moon's rotation around its own axis related to the gravitational effects of the Earth. The Moon has a slightly elongated, not a perfectly rounded orbit, and it seems to sway, showing 9% of its reverse side. These swings are called librations. Details of libration show that in the deep interior of the Moon there is not a solid, but a viscous, molten substance. The most valuable.