China Successfully Lands Probe on the Moon's Far Side, Starts Collecting Samples (cnn.com) 51
China's Chang'e-6 probe successfully lands on far side of the moon
China's moon probe has "successfully touched down on the far side of the moon," CNN reports, in "a significant step for the ambitious mission that could advance the country's aspirations of putting astronauts on the moon" by 2030.
The mission's ultimate goal is to return to Earth the first samples from the moon's far side, CNN reports. And China's lunar lander "is now expected to use a drill and a mechanical arm to gather up to 2 kilograms of moon dust and rocks from the basin, a crater formed some 4 billion years ago." To complete its mission, the lander will need to robotically stow those samples in an ascent vehicle that made the landing with it. The ascent vehicle will then return to lunar orbit, where it will dock with and transfer the samples to a re-entry capsule, according to mission information provided by the China National Space Administration. The re-entry capsule and orbiter will then travel back to Earth's orbit and separate, allowing the re-entry capsule to make its expected return later this month to the Siziwang Banner Landing Site in China's rural Inner Mongolia region.
The mission began with its launch on May 3 — and is expected to last 53 days. The landing marks the second time a mission has successfully reached the far side of the moon. China first completed that historic feat in 2019 with its Chang'e-4 probe... The technically complex mission is made more challenging due to where it is being conducted. The far side of the moon is out of range of normal communications, which means Chang'e-6 must also rely on a satellite that was launched into lunar orbit in March, the Queqiao-2.
The mission's ultimate goal is to return to Earth the first samples from the moon's far side, CNN reports. And China's lunar lander "is now expected to use a drill and a mechanical arm to gather up to 2 kilograms of moon dust and rocks from the basin, a crater formed some 4 billion years ago." To complete its mission, the lander will need to robotically stow those samples in an ascent vehicle that made the landing with it. The ascent vehicle will then return to lunar orbit, where it will dock with and transfer the samples to a re-entry capsule, according to mission information provided by the China National Space Administration. The re-entry capsule and orbiter will then travel back to Earth's orbit and separate, allowing the re-entry capsule to make its expected return later this month to the Siziwang Banner Landing Site in China's rural Inner Mongolia region.
The mission began with its launch on May 3 — and is expected to last 53 days. The landing marks the second time a mission has successfully reached the far side of the moon. China first completed that historic feat in 2019 with its Chang'e-4 probe... The technically complex mission is made more challenging due to where it is being conducted. The far side of the moon is out of range of normal communications, which means Chang'e-6 must also rely on a satellite that was launched into lunar orbit in March, the Queqiao-2.
Good job (Score:5, Insightful)
Re: Good job (Score:4, Insightful)
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You mean how the CCP and USSR did such incredible damage to their country's environments that the west looks like the garden of Eden in comparison?
Study something. Knowledge is power. It will grant you the power to stop posting ignorant virtue signaling nonsense,
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LOL you're fucking trolling. What did the US look like before the EPA dumbfuck?
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the irony eh'
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Bzzzzt! WRONG! We have a box of rice a roni as your consolation prize as you leave the stage, AC!
Post as a real human being and we can discuss. I do not have discussions with ghosts.
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You're not human. You're a sub human AC.
When you're a real boy you can talk with the adults.
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Sorry, *right*.
But you're too young to remember before the EPA, with human shit in the rivers (like the Delaware, for example, by Philly). You're also too young to remember inversion layers over most cities, where we got 90%+ humidity/90F+ day and night for *months*.
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I certainly do remember plenty of nasty shit including riders on fire.
China is still worse and so was USSR and now Russia. The information is publicly available. Go pick your favorite source of information that isn't getting Chinese or Russian money and see for yourself.
For Russia you can start with the lakes they murdered and how they handled radioactive materials, go from there.
For China, look at their farming practices in the north, the sand encroaching on towns/cities and once valuable farmland and th
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Fake sub human AC fails to say anything. Standard.
When you're a real person with a real name you can talk. Until then I'm one of the only people on slashdot who reads at 0. It's just you n me kid and you're just a ghost.
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Re: (Score:1, Troll)
> lying all the way
NATO won't move one inch to the East.
Iraq has WMD's.
Building 7 fell because of office paper fires.
I think we figured out who runs this account - they accuse you of what they are doing.
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Could be, anything is possible in a world without verifiable facts.
Re: Good job (Score:2)
Re: Good job (Score:3)
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Especially welcome as world scientists have no samples at all from the far side. These will be the first, and thus one of most valuable additions to lunar science since the 1970s.
Lunar far side (Score:2)
I'm all for this experiment since it's worth checking and its good as an exercise/rehearsal, but why would the samples be expected to be any different than the near-side? The far side of the moon has no idea it's the far side.
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Re:Lunar far side (Score:5, Informative)
The far side is more exposed to hits from rocks falling into the Earth/Lunar gravity well. As such it is much more rugged, with few of the large flat "seas" that the near side has.
That means there are more permanently shaded areas where the composition of rocks will be different, and there might be some ice.
It's also an impressive technical feat because it is harder to land there. As well as being more difficult terrain, it requires comms satellites in Lunar orbit to bounce signals around to the far side. The automated landing system needs to be able to cope with more uneven terrain, more boulders, and areas of permanent shade.
It seems that NASA is also worried that China is doing a sample return mission, because they have recently downgraded their Mars sample return project from maximum scientific benefit to "just get something, anything, back first". They seem to think that China may try to beat them to it with a simpler sample return mission that grabs a small amount of material from the easiest possible location, and they are probably right.
Re: Lunar far side (Score:2)
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That's probably more of an issue with JPL blowing their budget all the time. The samples were originally supposed to be collected by Curiosity. That went 2x over budget and had delays. They got it on Perseverance. But there's still no concrete plan for picking up the samples. Every
Re:Lunar far side (Score:5, Funny)
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The follow up documentary was also highly educational, adding new details and information unavailable at the time the initial study was performed.
Re:Lunar far side (Score:5, Informative)
I'm all for this experiment since it's worth checking and its good as an exercise/rehearsal, but why would the samples be expected to be any different than the near-side? The far side of the moon has no idea it's the far side.
Near side and far side in fact are strikingly different. The near side is dominated by the many dark maria, which are nearly absent on the far side.
You could proposed that the far side is like the highlands areas of the near side, the areas that aren't maria, but that's still a hypothesis. If near side and far side are so very different in the large-scale geomorphology, they may be different in other ways, too.
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I'm all for this experiment since it's worth checking and its good as an exercise/rehearsal, but why would the samples be expected to be any different than the near-side? The far side of the moon has no idea it's the far side.
Since the Moon is tidally-locked to the Earth, the far side does not get exposed to oxygen which escapes from Earth's atmosphere. So the cheese on the far side does not oxidize and this is expected to be of much higher quality than that on the near side.
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We have known since the first space probe went behind the Moon that the far side looks very different. A side that looks very different likely should be sampled to see if there are chemical and geological differences as well. And now, with recent probes that can gather data from IR spectrometry, neutron emission analysis, and other remote sensing technologies, we know it is chemically different as well. BTW - the far side does "know" it is the far side. It has been subjected to a very different history of c
Come to the Far Side. (Score:4, Funny)
We have milk, cookies, and front seat drivers.
https://www.pinterest.com/pin/... [pinterest.com]
On a related note, NASA is still awaiting confirmation from the BBC regarding China reaching the Dark Side of the Moon. Naturaly we’re waiting on Mr. Gilmour to confirm with a short riff narrated by Sir David Attenborough.
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I used my bitcoin to buy several plots from him. Everyone else better get on board fast before they miss out! This is a unique once in a life time ground floor opportunity to create generational wealth!
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You're good though, there's ice in the shadows of the rocks. Just get an AI powered quantum robot that lives on the block chain to harvest it for you while you kick back collecting passive income. Sell a book and seminar series telling others how you got rich on your lunar water harvesting and how they can, too!
Metal rain (Score:3)
Re:Metal rain (Score:5, Informative)
At the time the moon was forming, it had no near or far side. It was rotating.
The tidal lock happened much later.
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Interesting link.
However I doubt a molten body can easily become tidal locked.
On the other hand: we are talking about several hundred million years here.
Might be possible!
The Truth Behind China's Economic Stagnation (Score:1, Offtopic)
"In the shadow of China's high GDP, it is possible that a significant distortion will lead to prolonged economic stagnation. We gathered open-source information to understand the state of its economy." [nhk.or.jp]
in order to prop up GDP growth, local governments all over China have been taking on massive debts to build empty skyscrapers and highways to nowhere, amounting to trillions of dollars of hidden debt. meanwhile workers in some sectors haven't been paid in over two years, families are evicted and their homes ra
beautiful (Score:1)
The beauty of the far side of the moon is that no one on earth can see what they hell you're doing there. That makes it a most excellent base for mounting an attack.
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>> no one on earth can see what they hell you're doing there
Multiple satellites equipped with cameras are in orbit around the moon.
Re: beautiful (Score:2)
An attack on what? Mooninites?