Classic Rock legends Pink Floyd designated the far side of the moon The Dark Side of the Moon in a 1973 album release. This unfortunate name has stuck because the far side of the moon is anything but dark.
Flatly stated, there is no dark side of the moon, it has a far side which experiences the same waxing and waning light as the near side. The moon is tidally locked which means that we never see the far side. When a darkened new moon is visible on earth, that means the far side is lit.
The far side has conjured mystery and legends throughout history. In 1922, a children’s book was written called the Magical Land of Noom which was located on the far side. There is a 10th century Japanese folk tale of the Bamboo Cutter and Polish folklore all about strange happenings taking place on the far side. For generations of humankind the far side was an unknown, unexplored and mysterious place. Until it wasn’t.
Ending the Unknown
Luna 3, was a Soviet spacecraft launched from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in October of 1959 as part of a greater lunar exploration program. It was the first-ever mission to photograph the far side of the Moon and the third Soviet space probe to be sent to the neighborhood of the Moon. This mission was the first to use the Gravity Assist maneuver to return a spacecraft onto a return trajectory to earth. Though Luna 3 provided rather poor pictures by later standards, the historic, never before seen views of the far side of the Moon caused excitement and interest when they were published around the world. A tentative Atlas of the Far Side of the Moon was created by the Soviets after image processing improved the pictures.
These views showed mountainous terrain, very different from the near side, and only two dark, low-lying regions which were named Mare Moscoviense (Sea of Moscow) and Mare Desiderii (Sea of Desire). Mare Desiderii was later found to be composed of a smaller mare, Mare Ingenii (Sea of Cleverness), and several other dark craters. The reason for this difference between the two sides of the Moon is still not fully understood, but it seems that most of the dark lavas that flowed out to produce the maria formed under the Earth-facing half.
The method of taking the pictures was itself a study in ingenuity. The spacecraft interior held cameras and a miniature photographic film processing system to develop the film during the mission. A radio transmitter was also included with the intention of transmitting all of the pictures to an earth receiving station. Forty pictures were taken and 17, some say only 12, were successfully received by earth ground stations.
Further Exploration
Further exploration of the far side came with the Zond 3, returning 25 high quality pictures. In 1967, a revised Atlas of the Far Side of the Moon was published in Moscow, based on data from Zond 3, with the catalog now including 4,000 newly discovered features of the lunar far side landscape.In the same year, the first Complete Map of the Moon and updated complete globe featuring 95 percent of the lunar surface, was released in the Soviet Union. Human eyes finally observed the far side during the Christmas mission of Apollo 8 with astronaut William Anders describing the view: “The backside looks like a sand pile my kids have played in for some time. It’s all beat up, no definition, just a lot of bumps and holes.”
Science is the father of knowledge, but opinion breeds ignorance. –
Hippocrates
In spite of all the science and facts, conspiracy theorists, notably Milton William Cooper, have alleged that some Apollo astronauts had seen UFOs on the far side but were told to keep quiet about them. Some have allegedly reported seeing an alien base (code named “Luna”) and even encountered aliens who told them to stay off the Moon. Some photographs circulated on the Internet purport to show a large “castle” on the Moon.
The Pursuit of Knowledge
Lunar exploration continues with the idea of utilizing the Earth–Moon L2 for a communications satellite covering the Moon’s far side. This has been realized, as the China National Space Administration launched Queqiao relay satellite in 2018. It has since been used for communications between the Chang’e 4 lander and Yutu 2 rover that have successfully landed in early 2019 on the lunar far side and ground stations on the Earth. And L2 is proposed to be “an ideal location” for a propellant depot as part of the proposed depot-based space transportation architecture.
Chandrayaan-2, India’s second lunar probe in 2019, captured images from far side terrain, Jackson (crater) and poles of the Moon. Unfortunately, the full mission was not successful with the Vikram lander deviating from its intended trajectory and crashing on September 6, 2019.
The China National Space Administration’s Chang’e 3 made the first ever soft landing on the lunar far side on January 3, 2019. In January 2020, China released a large amount of data and high-resolution images from the lander and rover of the mission.
What the Future Holds
Finally, one of the NASA missions to the Moon under study would send a sample-return lander to the South Pole–Aitken basin, the location of a major impact event that created a formation nearly 2,400 km (1,500 mi) across. The force of this impact has created a deep penetration into the lunar surface, and a sample returned from this site could be analyzed for information concerning the interior of the Moon.
Many ideas have been proposed for development of the moon’s far side. These include mining Helium-3, this isotope is relatively rare on the Earth, but has good potential for use as a fuel in fusion reactors. The far side may also be useful to astronomers to position radio telescopes similar to Arecibo in Puerto Rico. The bulk of the moon would shield these telescopes from the radio noise being generated on earth.
Luna 3 gave humankind its first glimpse of the lunar far side and development of the first Atlas of the Moon. Later, this historic mission had been followed by numerous Apollo flights and ever more complex automated missions. While there is still much to learn, maybe we can thank Pink Floyd for keeping the awareness of far side – or the Dark Side in popular culture.
About the Author
Carl Rossi
Contributing author to http://WestEastSpace.com
The author is a retired Supply Chain/Logistics expert currently living in central Texas, USA. His passions include space exploration and fast sports cars. While his passion for fast sports cars has been satisfied, space exploration remains a burning ambition.
Carl Rossi holds an MBA in International Business and has been certified in Supply Chain Management, Logistics and Transportation by world wide industry organizations. He has been responsible for managing operations globally and has travelled extensively throughout Europe and Asia.
Retirement has allowed the author the opportunity to follow space extensively while also producing programs for community radio stations in Georgetown and Killeen, Texas. These shows can be heard online as well – Freeform on http://radiogeorgetown.org, Wednesdays at 6:00 PM central US time or 2300 hrs UTC; The Softer Side can be heard on http://knct.org anytime on demand.
