Let's get one thing straight right out of the gate: there is no permanent "dark" side of the moon. Honestly, it’s one of those scientific misnomers that just stuck because it sounds mysterious and cool. But it drives astronomers a little crazy. Every single square inch of the lunar surface gets hit by sunlight at some point during the moon's 27.3-day rotation cycle. What we are actually talking about—and what NASA focuses on—is the far side of the moon. It's the side that never faces Earth. It’s tucked away, hidden from our view because of a phenomenon called tidal locking.
Basically, the moon takes just as long to spin once on its axis as it does to orbit our planet. Because those speeds match up so perfectly, we always see the same face. It’s like a dancer circling a partner while always keeping their chest pointed toward the center. We didn't even know what the back of the moon looked like until 1959, when the Soviet Luna 3 probe snapped some grainy, low-res photos that changed everything.
Why the Dark Side of the Moon NASA Studies is a Total Alien World
When NASA started getting those first real looks at the far side, they realized it wasn’t just a mirror image of the side we see from our backyards. It’s a completely different beast. The "near side"—the one you see at night—is covered in these massive, dark patches called Maria. These are essentially giant plains of basaltic lava that flowed out billions of years ago. But the far side? It’s almost entirely rugged, cratered, and mountainous. It looks like it’s been through a heavyweight boxing match for four billion years.
There's a massive feature there called the South Pole-Aitken (SPA) Basin. It is one of the largest, deepest, and oldest impact craters in the entire solar system. We’re talking about a hole that is 2,500 kilometers (about 1,550 miles) wide. If you dropped it on the United States, it would stretch from the East Coast all the way to the Rocky Mountains.
Why is it so different? That’s the multi-billion dollar question. Some scientists, like those working on NASA’s Gravity Recovery and Interior Laboratory (GRAIL) mission, suggest the crust on the far side is much thicker. Because the crust was thicker, the lava couldn't bubble up to the surface as easily as it did on the near side. It stayed trapped underneath, leaving the far side looking like a scarred, rocky wasteland while the near side got its "seas."
The Radio Silence Factor
One of the coolest things about the dark side of the moon NASA researchers often highlight isn't what's there, but what isn't there. Radio noise.
Earth is loud. We are constantly pumping out radio waves, television signals, and cellular data. For a radio astronomer trying to listen to the faint whispers of the early universe, Earth is like trying to hear a flute at a heavy metal concert. But the far side of the moon acts as a massive physical shield. It blocks out every bit of electromagnetic "pollution" from Earth.
💡 You might also like: Why the iPhone 7 Red iPhone 7 Special Edition Still Hits Different Today
This makes it the quietest place in the inner solar system.
NASA has been looking at projects like the Lunar Surface Electromagnetics Explorer (LuSEE-Night). The goal is to put a radio telescope on the far side to peek into the "Dark Ages" of the universe—the time before the first stars even formed. You literally cannot do that from Earth. You can't even do it from a satellite in orbit. You need the bulk of the moon to act as your earmuffs.
The Artemis Connection and the Hunt for Water
NASA isn't just looking at the far side for the view or the quiet. They’re looking for survival. The Artemis program is the agency's big push to get humans back to the lunar surface, and this time, they want to stay. The far side, specifically around the South Pole, is the prime real estate for this.
Why the South Pole? Because of the shadows.
Inside some of those deep craters at the lunar poles, there are spots that haven't seen sunlight in billions of years. These are called Permanently Shadowed Regions (PSRs). Because they are so incredibly cold (colder than the surface of Pluto, actually), they act as "cold traps." When a comet hits the moon, the water vapor can wander into these craters and freeze instantly.
NASA’s Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) has found strong evidence of water ice in these dark pockets.
📖 Related: Lateral Area Formula Cylinder: Why You’re Probably Overcomplicating It
Water is the "gold" of space travel.
- You can drink it.
- You can split it into oxygen for breathing.
- You can turn the hydrogen into rocket fuel.
If we can harvest that ice, the far side of the moon becomes a gas station for the rest of the solar system. We could launch missions to Mars from the moon much more cheaply than we could from Earth because the moon's gravity is so much weaker. You don't need a massive, city-sized rocket to get off the lunar surface.
The Mystery of the Lunar "Mass"
A few years ago, researchers found something weird under the South Pole-Aitken basin. There’s a giant "blob" of extra mass buried hundreds of miles beneath the surface. It’s so heavy it’s actually pulling the crust down.
What is it?
Some think it’s a giant chunk of metal from the asteroid that hit the moon billions of years ago. Imagine an asteroid five times the size of the Big Island of Hawaii slamming into the moon and getting stuck in the mantle. That's the kind of scale we're talking about. NASA’s missions are currently trying to figure out if that metal could be mined or if it tells us something about how planets form in the first place.
How NASA Communicates with the "Dark" Side
You might be wondering: if the moon blocks radio waves, how does NASA talk to a rover or a lander on the far side?
👉 See also: Why the Pen and Paper Emoji is Actually the Most Important Tool in Your Digital Toolbox
You can't just beam a signal through the moon. It’s 2,000 miles of solid rock. To solve this, you need a middleman.
China’s space agency (CNSA) actually beat NASA to the punch on a soft landing on the far side with their Chang’e 4 mission in 2019. They used a relay satellite called Queqiao, which sits in a special orbit (the L2 Lagrange point) where it can see both the back of the moon and the Earth at the same time.
NASA is planning similar infrastructure for the Artemis missions. They’re looking at a constellation of satellites called Lunar Communications Gateway. It’s basically like putting a Wi-Fi router in lunar orbit so astronauts on the far side can TikTok their moonwalks (or, you know, send back vital telemetry data).
Common Myths That Just Won't Die
People love a good conspiracy. Whenever you talk about the dark side of the moon NASA gets hit with questions about alien bases or hidden cities.
- Myth 1: There are alien structures back there. No. NASA’s Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter has mapped the entire surface down to a resolution of about 50 centimeters. We can see the tracks left by the Apollo astronauts. If there was a "base" back there, we’d see it. It’s just rocks and dust.
- Myth 2: It’s always dark. Nope. As we discussed, it gets plenty of sun. In fact, during a "New Moon" (when the side facing Earth is dark), the far side is fully illuminated.
- Myth 3: Apollo astronauts saw UFOs on the far side. While the Apollo 10 crew did hear some "weird music" in their headsets while passing behind the moon, it was actually just radio interference between the Lunar Module and the Command Module. They talked about it openly; it wasn't a cover-up.
What’s Next for Lunar Exploration?
The next few years are going to be wild. NASA is currently working with private companies through the CLPS (Commercial Lunar Payload Services) initiative. They are basically hiring private "taxis" to drop instruments onto the far side.
One of the most anticipated is the VIPER rover. While it's aimed at the South Pole, its findings will dictate exactly how we approach the "dark" regions of the moon. We need to know the consistency of that ice. Is it like hard ice on a lake? Or is it more like frost mixed into the dirt? That determines what kind of "shovels" we need to bring.
Real-World Actionable Steps for Space Enthusiasts
If you want to keep up with what's happening on the lunar far side, don't just wait for the evening news. The news cycle is usually three days behind the actual science.
- Track the LRO Data: NASA’s Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter has a public image gallery. You can literally browse raw images of the far side as they come in.
- Watch the CLPS Launch Schedule: Keep an eye on companies like Intuitive Machines and Astrobotic. They are the ones actually building the hardware that will touch the far side next.
- Use Moon Apps: Get a high-quality moon map app (like Lunascope) that allows you to rotate the moon. Study the SPA Basin and the Hertzsprung crater. Understanding the geography makes the mission updates way more interesting.
- Follow the VIPER Mission: This rover is the "scout" for the far side. Its success or failure will decide if we have a lunar base by 2030 or if we're stuck on Earth for another decade.
The far side of the moon isn't a place of "darkness" anymore. It's a place of transition. It's going from a mystery we only saw in blurry photos to a functional laboratory that might hold the keys to understanding where we came from—and how we get to the rest of the stars. It's rugged, it's quiet, and it's full of the resources we need to become a multi-planetary species. Just stop calling it the dark side.