The Chinese lunar robot takes pictures of a gel-like substance on the far side of the moon

The Chinese lunar rover Yutu-2 captured images of a strange substance found in a crater on the dark side of the moon – and described as "gel-like".

The rover returned to the crater to capture a clear picture of the substance, after being spotted by a member of the team on Earth earlier this month.

The team shared images of the substance via social media, showing the front wheels of the mobile Yutu-2.

The strange substance was spotted by a team member on Earth, Yu Tianyi, during the rover's journey to the surface.

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The team described it as "significantly different from the surrounding lunar soil".

One theory is that it can be an impactite, created when meteors hit objects in space.

The Yutu-2 rover is the first vehicle to explore the dark side of the moon.

The far side has been observed repeatedly from lunar orbits, but has never been explored on the surface.

It is commonly called the "dark side" because it can not be seen from the Earth and that it is relatively unknown, not because it lacks sunlight.

The pioneering landing highlights China's ambitions to compete in space with the United States, Russia and Europe, thanks to manned flights and planned construction of a permanent space station.

The researchers hope that the low-frequency observations of the cosmos on the other side of the moon, where the Earth's radio signals are blocked, will help scientists to learn about the beginnings of the solar system and the birth of the first ones. stars of the universe.