Ernie T. AP β New research shows that when an asteroid slammed into the moon billions of years ago, it carved out a pair of grand canyons on the lunar far side. They reported their findings Tuesday in the journal Nature Communications.
The incoming space rock passed over the lunar south pole before hitting, creating a huge basin and sending streams of boulders hurtling at a speed of nearly 1 mile a second 1 kilometer a second. The latter, by comparison, took millions of years to form. Most of the ejected debris was thrown in a direction away from the south pole, Kring said. Permanently shadowed areas at the bottom of the moon are thought to hold considerable ice, which could be turned into rocket fuel and drinking water by future moonwalkers.
The plan is to send astronauts around the moon next year, followed a year or so later by the first lunar touchdown by astronauts since Apollo. The AP is solely responsible for all content.
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