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Moon China Space

China Successfully Lands Spacecraft On Far Side of the Moon (cnbc.com) 212

State news agency Xinhua reports that China has successfully landed its Chang'e 4 spacecraft on the far side of the moon on Thursday morning, Beijing time, becoming the first country in history to touch the lunar surface unseen by those on Earth. CNBC reports: The Chang'e 4 mission launched in early December. It took the spacecraft three days to travel to the moon, where it spent the last few weeks in orbit preparing for touch down on the Von Karman crater. The crater is a relatively flat spot on the moon's far side. "China's Chang'e-4 probe softlands on Moon's far side," the state news agency tweeted on Thursday. Citing the China National Space Administration, Xinhua said the space probe, made up of a lander and a rover, "landed at the preselected landing area on the far side of the moon at 10:26 a.m. Beijing Time."

Landing on the far side is a technical challenge, as there is no direct way to communicate with the spacecraft as it nears its target. China put a relay satellite in orbit around the moon in May to overcome that communication challenge. The far side of the moon has been seen and mapped before, even by astronauts of the Apollo missions. But the successful landing of Chang'e 4 represents the first time any spacecraft has touched down on the moon's far side.

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China Successfully Lands Spacecraft On Far Side of the Moon

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  • what did you find...? Missing somthing...?
  • Nice (Score:5, Insightful)

    by boulat ( 216724 ) on Thursday January 03, 2019 @02:09AM (#57896920)

    Be gracious, lad. This is an achievement worthy of a admiration.

    • Re:Nice (Score:4, Insightful)

      by DNS-and-BIND ( 461968 ) on Thursday January 03, 2019 @03:45AM (#57897094) Homepage
      Sorry, the vicious racism and Sinophobia that accompanies any Slashdot article about China will not allow that. Funny, the worst offenders are the ones in other threads proudly signaling their socially just tolerance status. Weird...
      • Re:Nice (Score:5, Interesting)

        by AmiMoJo ( 196126 ) on Thursday January 03, 2019 @07:08AM (#57897544) Homepage Journal

        It's a real shame that the US won't work with China. The ESA does, but NASA is barred from doing so and it's a loss for everyone.

        In a way it might actually be for the best though. Everyone was kind of following the US lead for the longest time, but now have realized that the US isn't really committed and that there are other opportunities, other players, we are starting to see things move more quickly again.

        • by AHuxley ( 892839 )
          Why is protecting US secrets a loss?
          • Why is protecting US secrets a loss?

            Preventing knowledge from disseminating is always a loss. Preventing great minds from collaborating, however, is the much bigger loss -- the US and China and the rest of the world could all be enjoying a lot of knowledge we don't currently have, if their scientists were allowed to work together.

        • Re:Nice (Score:5, Interesting)

          by Oswald McWeany ( 2428506 ) on Thursday January 03, 2019 @08:11AM (#57897738)

          It's a real shame that the US won't work with China. The ESA does, but NASA is barred from doing so and it's a loss for everyone.

          In a way it might actually be for the best though. Everyone was kind of following the US lead for the longest time, but now have realized that the US isn't really committed and that there are other opportunities, other players, we are starting to see things move more quickly again.

          Space exploration (and science in general) is more political in the US than most other countries. Cooperating with the US on long term missions can be tricky because potentially every 4 years you have a new executive leader in charge and the executive leader is for some reason in charge of what scientific missions can and will be done and can tear up past agreements and contracts.

          Although usually the West more aligns politically and socially with the US, and so the US ideally would be the science partner for the West- the political instability of American Science funding being tied to which political party is in charge might mean China is a better (more stable) partner for long term science cooperations despite their messed up political and social systems.

          • by AmiMoJo ( 196126 )

            Kennedy was planning to do the moon landings as a joint missing with the USSR. He had a good relationship with their leader. But then he was assassinated, and it became the space race.

            • Kennedy was planning to do the moon landings as a joint missing with the USSR. He had a good relationship with their leader. But then he was assassinated, and it became the space race.

              That's a... somewhat distorted version of events. The Apollo lunar landing program started as a space race. Kennedy later considered seeking a partnership as a move to contain the ever spiraling cost estimates. He also considered scaling back the program or simply cancelling it outright. Dallas intervened before he could

              • by dryeo ( 100693 )

                And if Kennedy had not been shot, there's a good chance the Moon program would have been canceled before success.

            • You have source for this? Kennedy was in a big standoff with Kruschev over the Bay of Pigs fiasco, and Krushchev got the much better outcome after the Vienna summit. There doesn't seem to have been much time after that to create a good relationship.

            • by lgw ( 121541 )

              OTOH, it only really happened because he was assassinated. The NASA budget was protected because no one wanted to be seen as the one dismantling JFK's legacy. Kept NASA in funding until Nixon (at which point most people had lost interest anyway).

              The space race is a shining example of rapid technological process due to competition for a reason other than war. Something I'm hard pressed to even find a second example of, between governments instead of companies.

          • Space exploration (and science in general) is more political in the US than most other countries.

            It's plenty political in other countries too. One of the reasons the ESA accomplishes so little/goes in circles is that (for political reasons) the ESA spends money in it's member nations in proportion to the contributions. In the same vein, that's why China has the slow motion program it does - just big enough to claim that they are A Real Spacefaring Nation and to fuel domestic propaganda.

            • Space exploration (and science in general) is more political in the US than most other countries.

              It's plenty political in other countries too. One of the reasons the ESA accomplishes so little/goes in circles is that (for political reasons) the ESA spends money in it's member nations in proportion to the contributions. In the same vein, that's why China has the slow motion program it does - just big enough to claim that they are A Real Spacefaring Nation and to fuel domestic propaganda.

              ESA tends to stick to past long term commitments though. When an administration changes in the US NASA is frequently told to stop what they have been working on and focus on something new.

              • When an administration changes in the US NASA is frequently told to stop what they have been working on and focus on something new.

                That's the belief of folks who don't actually pay any attention to NASA except the headlines. In reality, yeah it does happen, but the majority of programs continue regardless of Administration.

        • Um, what? The US has several robots on Mars, multiple probes and robota in queue for further exploration of the solar systen, and is currently landing and reusing rockets.
      • Does Sinophobia have to be racist? Personally I quite like Chinese culture and Chinese people. But it would be very foolish indeed to imagine the Chinese state is a geopolitical ally of America.

    • by gweihir ( 88907 )

      It is. There are a lot of severe problems with China, but this is not one of them. This is also not the act of a technologically inferior nation.

      • I've just invented colour TV. What do you mean it's inferior and you've moved on to HDR?

        They watched the original moon landing on black and white.
    • It is not a big deal for Russia or America. Look, if you can land on the moon, you can land anywhere on it. The fact is, that all landings are craft based, not with anything from earth.

      BUT with that said, this is the second time that China has landed on the moon. And they have gone to someplace interesting. I say good for them. We need more like this.
  • Furst, it's a side poorly understood and very different from the near side. Far more igneous rock and fewer craters.

    Second, China is comparing it to land it questionably annexed. Is this an indication they're withdrawing from the treaty for outer space and have the means to defend any territory?

    • Not saying the Chinese look anything like greys...
    • by Anonymous Coward

      Second, China is comparing it to land it questionably annexed.

      Where did you find that language? Skimming the linked articles didn't help.

    • Second, China is comparing it to land it questionably annexed. Is this an indication they're withdrawing from the treaty for outer space and have the means to defend any territory?

      To what are they comparing it and where?

      • by gtall ( 79522 )

        Jinping: Flunky, we will invade and occupy uninhabited space rocks for the glory of me....errrr...the Chinese Communist Party.

        Flunky: Sure thing, Boss-Guy, shall I ready our invasion fleet?

        Ping: No, we'll need them for Taiwan, I hear there are free Chinese there and we cannot be having any of that. there's my ego to consider.

        Flunky: Boss-Guy? Beijing University suspects there may be free Chinese on space rocks.

        Ping: Holy Cow! Taiwan is replicating, I knew it. Get our military on Super Secret High Alert, we

    • Is this an indication they're withdrawing from the treaty for outer space and have the means to defend any territory?

      Well, they do have the most advanced battlebot on the Moon...

  • where it spent the last few weeks in orbit preparing for touch down on the Von Karman crater.

    No relation [kerbalspaceprogram.com], I'm assuming.

    • by Zocalo ( 252965 ) on Thursday January 03, 2019 @05:25AM (#57897350) Homepage
      The crater is named for Theodore von Kármán a prominent early rocket scientist who is better known for the Karman Line, the notional point at which the atmosphere becomes too thin to support aeronautical flight. This is also referred to as the point at which space begins and is defined by the FAI at 100km, although the USAF and NASA award outer space badges at 80km and the actual point will vary depending on atmospheric conditions. In that light, it seems quite likely that KSP named their character as a nod to both von Kármán and Werner von Braun, so yes, there is a relation of sorts.
  • by Vetpiet ( 5703172 ) on Thursday January 03, 2019 @04:03AM (#57897136)
    But,.. did they really land on the far side of the moon or are they still shooting the landing sequence in a hanger in Beijing?
    • by Eloking ( 877834 )

      But,.. did they really land on the far side of the moon or are they still shooting the landing sequence in a hanger in Beijing?

      I would mod this funny but in case some people are really wondering this, every developped country have enough space surveillance to confirm if this is a fluke or not. In other words, if we don't heard a "Fake News" from the US, then it's true.

  • Do you want a Moon Nazi invasion because this is how you get a Moon Nazi invasion! #IronSky

  • It shows that stealing technology really DOES work.
  • Now, lets see if they release data for there?

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