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China Moon Space Science Technology

China's Chang'e-4 Launches On Mission To the Moon's Far Side (nytimes.com) 41

An anonymous reader quotes a report from The New York Times: China is aiming to go where no one has gone before: the far side of the moon. A rocket carrying the Chang'e-4 lunar lander blasted off at about 2:23 a.m. local time on Saturday from Xichang Satellite Launch Center in southern China. (In the United States, it was still midday Friday). Chinese authorities did not broadcast the launch, but an unofficial live stream recorded near the site showed the rocket rise from the launch pad until its flames looked like a bright star in the area's dark skies. Nearly one hour later, Xinhua, China's state-run news agency reported that Chang'e-4 had successfully launched. Exactly when it will set down at its destination has not yet been announced -- possibly in early January -- but Chang'e-4 will provide the first close-up look at a part of the moon that is eternally out of view from Earth. The rover will attempt to land in the 110-mile-wide Von Karman crater. The crater is within an area known as the South Pole-Aitken basin, a gigantic, 1,600-mile wide crater at the bottom of the moon, which has a mineralogy distinct from other locations. "That may reflect materials from the inside of the moon that were brought up by the impact that created the basin," reports The New York Times.

The suite of instruments on the rover and the lander -- cameras, ground-penetrating radar and spectrometers -- "will probe the structure of the rocks beneath the spacecraft, study the effects of the solar wind striking the lunar surface," the report says. "Chang'e-4 will also test the ability of making radio astronomy observations from the far side of the moon, without the effects of noise and interference from Earth." It will also see if plant seeds will germinate and silkworm eggs will hatch in the moon's low gravity.
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China's Chang'e-4 Launches On Mission To the Moon's Far Side

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  • So far ahead of the game of technology and yet only just now starting to put stuff on the moon. The US did that almost 50 years ago. But, being that the US lost all of its data in order to go back to the moon, it can be said that America has forgotten more about space travel and landing on other astral bodies than everyone else knows.

    /sarcasm
  • by Anonymous Coward

    Please slap any reporter you see saying Dark Side.

    • What's wrong with Pink Floyd, man?

      Did you have a bad trip or something?

  • Do they have another satellite? Because how are they going to get the signals back?

    Also we have already mapped the whole moon, so what do they plan to find out?

    • They do have a satellite in orbit around the moon to relay the signals. And they are not mapping the moon but exploring the surface.
      • by godel_56 ( 1287256 ) on Friday December 07, 2018 @05:54PM (#57768654)

        They do have a satellite in orbit around the moon to relay the signals. And they are not mapping the moon but exploring the surface.

        I don't know that it's actually in orbit. The comms satellite is beyond the Moon in the L2 point of gravitational balance with the Moon and the Earth. Because the Moon is smaller than the Earth, apparently there's enough room to 'peek around the side" and relay signals to Earth.

        • I'm still a little hazy on the "planting seeds to see if anything will grow" part of the mission. And China is hedging it's bet by landing on the dark side so if their probe crashes no body will see it.

          • by neoRUR ( 674398 )

            So they are planing a plant to claim the territory?

          • I've seen the cartoon version, it's pretty awesome.

            Don't worry if it crashes, those mutant girls are pretty strong. They'll find a way to complete the mission. At least, until they make the mistake of planting the seeds...

        • You're right, it's at L2 in what's referred to as a "halo orbit". So still an orbit! (to be honest I thought it was actually orbiting the moon)
    • by scdeimos ( 632778 ) on Friday December 07, 2018 @07:01PM (#57768968)

      Do they have another satellite? Because how are they going to get the signals back?

      It's communicating via the previously launched Queqiao "Magpie Bridge" relay satellite which is in a halo orbit around the second Earth-Moon Lagrange point (E-M L2). REFs:

      1. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chang%27e_4#Lander_and_rover
      2. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2018_in_spaceflight#May
  • What powers the rover, I wonder? Can't be solar panels. Nuclear?
    • by Megol ( 3135005 )

      RTG using plutonium most likely, high (relatively) power output in a compact package.

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