China's Chang'E 2 Succeeds In Thrilling Asteroid Flyby 88
Zothecula writes "China has now joined the very select group of countries to have succeeded in carrying out an interplanetary probe mission. According to reports from China's official news agency Xinhua, the Chang'E 2 probe passed a mere 3.2 km (2 miles) from the near-Earth asteroid Toutatis at 8:30:09 GMT on December 13, making it the closest asteroid flyby to date ... and resulting in some remarkable photographs."
Closest? (Score:4, Informative)
How can 3.2km be the closest asteroid flyby when Hayabusa returned a sample from an asteroid?
http://www.space.com/9538-asteroid-dust-successfully-returned-japanese-space-probe.html
I guess I'll have to RTFA...
Re:Artist's conception of an angry starfish (Score:3, Informative)
Its here: http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/photo/2012-12/16/c_132043872_6.htm
They only linked to this in TFA, so you are right, but this time its easy to find it.
Re:All hail our new Chinese overlords (Score:4, Informative)
This was done better and cheaper than the USA could have accomplished.
Don't forget, this is the Chinese with a history of faking scientific discoveries and other things.
When it's independently verified, then I'll believe it.
Astronomers have been tracking it for months... There's no faking going on.
How is this "the closest asteroid flyby to date"? (Score:5, Informative)
Chang'E's flyby of 4179 Toutatis is certainly an impressive feat. But, given that Hayabusa took samples while several meters above the surface of 25143 Itokawa, and that NEAR-Shoemaker actually landed on 433 Eros, I don't see how the term "closest" (which the article uses as well as the summary) can apply. Unless they mean "the asteroid flyby mission that took place nearest to Earth," which, while interesting, doesn't seem to be how this is being presented.
Dupe (Score:4, Informative)
one [slashdot.org]
two [slashdot.org]
Re:All hail our new Chinese overlords (Score:5, Informative)