Solved cryptogram
The moon drifts a few centimeters farther from Earth each year, and lasers measure the change.
Astronomy Facts, sourced to NASA.
What it means
The same tidal friction that slows the Earth's spin transfers that momentum to the moon, and a body given more momentum climbs into a wider orbit. Apollo astronauts left reflector panels on the surface, and observatories still bounce laser pulses off them, timing the round trip to within a few centimeters. The retreat has been measured directly for over fifty years.
The claim comes from NASA, and the page it comes from was read on 2026-08-27 to confirm it still says this.
This is not the kind of claim that goes out of date, which is why it was set as a puzzle rather than a fact with a shelf life.
Solve it yourself
This fact is a cryptogram here: 77 letters over 18 different ones, graded medium.
- SourceNASA
- CollectionAstronomy Facts
- Difficultymedium
- Length77 letters, 18 of them different
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