China 'Lifts Mysterious Veil' by Landing Probe on Far Side of the Moon (reuters.com) 47
A Chinese space probe successfully touched down on the far side of the moon on Thursday, China's space agency said, hailing the event as a historic first and a major achievement for the country's space program. From a report: The Chang'e-4 lunar probe, launched in December, made the "soft landing" at 0226 GMT and transmitted the first-ever "close range" image of the far side of the moon, the China National Space Administration said. The moon is tidally locked to Earth, rotating at the same rate as it orbits our planet, so most of the far side -- or "dark side" -- is never visible to us. Previous spacecraft have seen the far side, but none has landed on it. The landing "lifted the mysterious veil" of the far side of the moon and "opened a new chapter in human lunar exploration", the agency said in a statement on its website, which included a wide-angle color picture of a crater from the moon's surface.
1973 (Score:5, Funny)
Re: 1973 (Score:2)
The dark side and The far side are two different things.
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Exactly. One was a comic in the 1980's. Ran at the bottom of the comics page next to Family Circus.
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dark adjective ....
\därk \
Definition of dark
4a : not clear to the understanding
b : not known or explored because of remoteness
the darkest reaches of the continent
https://www.merriam-webster.co... [merriam-webster.com]
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With the Moon, the "dark" side is just the half away from the sun. This changes as the moon revolves around the Earth. No one side is in perpetual darkness.
the "far side" is the side that is facing away from Earth. As the moon is tidally locked, the far side doesn't change -- it is perpetually the far side. That's why we always see the same side when we look up.
You could land on the "dark side" and land next to one of the Apollo landers, depending on the position of the moon at the time.
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You didn't read my post, and you're stuck on but one of many meanings of "Dark".
If you take definition #4 from the link I posted, "not known or explored because of remoteness" - it's perfectly valid. The non-Earth facing side of the moon is indeed not explored. That's the whole point of the article - this is the very first lander on the far side.
The far side is indeed the dark side - in that it's far away from us and unexplored.
Obviously it gets sunlight.
My post was to point out that you're missing a very
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https://www.hq.nasa.gov/alsj/A... [nasa.gov]
How is this possible? (Score:1)
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Maybe you could read the dupe, three posts down.
PS: "Yes".
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A communication relay satellite, Queqiao, was first launched to a halo orbit near the Earth-Moon L2 point in May 2018. (Wikipedia)
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There is an orbiting repeater which stores the info and then relays it when visible from Earth.
There is a post on this already (Score:2)
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On the same page. Like 4 articles from eachother.
Shitty editors.
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That's what happens when your editors work from home.
I know see why the USA feels "threatened" by China (Score:4, Interesting)
Previous spacecraft have seen the far side, but none has landed on it. The landing "lifted the mysterious veil" of the far side of the moon and "opened a new chapter in human lunar exploration", the agency said in a statement on its website, which included a wide-angle color picture of a crater from the moon's surface.
China now has the "bragging rights" only the US and former Soviet Union (Russia) have. Further, China marches on with its artificial island construction even as the US "barks" hard.
In short, while the US barks, China's "caravan moves on" like Putin once said. Good for them.
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Can't wait for a typhoon to come along in the South China sea.
All those fake islands will be washed away overnight
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AH SO! Far side just like near side, only darker! Who would have guessed.
Not exactly. The far side is notably more rugged, while the near side is mostly covered with lave-plain 'maria'. This probe may be able to explore this difference.
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Darker half the time, professor. Matter of fact it's daylight on the far side right now.
Chinese Space Agency Logo (Score:4, Funny)
OMG! Star Trek is based on the Chinese!
Chinese National Space Administration logo [wikimedia.org]
United Federation of Planets logo [wikimedia.org]
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They didn't have much choice, since it was blasted out of orbit on 13 September 1999.
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Historical Maps (Score:4, Funny)
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And now all maps in China will reflect the moon has historically been part of Chinese territory.
You joke, but that is essentially how modern day China thinks. They have the imperialist tendencies or pre 1920s Europe.
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All maps on the moon reflect that China has historically been part of Lunar territory.
Congratulations to China (Score:2)