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Chinese Moon Probe Ventures Into Deep Space
hackingbear writes "After completing its 6-month moon survey mission, China's second moon orbiter, Chang'e-2, was found to be in excellent condition and has abundant fuel left, and so it set off from its moon orbit into deep space, heading toward Lagrangian point L2 about 1.5 million kilometers away from the earth, or about 4 times farther out than the moon. The orbiter left its moon orbit at 5:10 p.m., according to the State Administration of Science, Technology and Industry for National Defence. The probe is expected to perform exploration at L2. It is the first Chinese spacecraft to venture beyond the moon and establish the country's capability in deep space exploration."
This probe is running away to deep space because it's afraid it will have to work at FoxConn if it ever returns to Earth.
And we're cutting back. What do they know that we don't? Hmm...
> The probe is expected to perform exploration at L2.
What do they expect to explore at the L2 point? It is just an empty spot in space.
sPh
And any alien reconnaissance satellites parked there would presumably be stealthed.
After completing its 6-month moon survey mission, China's second moon orbiter, Chang'e-2, was found to be in excellent condition and has abundant fuel left, and so it set off from its moon orbit into deep space,
Translation from Sino-Orwellian to plain English:
After crashing into the sea upon launch, PLAN has decided to claim that the orbiter is doing so well they've sent it off into deep space, never to return.
Official Heretic from the "Church of Global Warming". Proven right thanks to whistle blowers. AGW = Flat Earth Theory
I was going to park there...
'V'Ger' in Mandarin Chinese?
I am curious if anyone here knows that microprocessors and OSes they are using on the craft and its instruments.
I seem to remember a Chinese press release that detailed the successful launch of a space craft including chatter between the pilots and ground crew, that came out before the rocket had even been lit....
And lets not forget the fireworks during the Olympics.
- the Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe, Herschel Space Observatory and Planck Space Observatory. One would hope the Chinese would take steps not only to avoid crashing into those but also to avoid interrupting the science those are performing. I'm sure the ops people for all of those craft are scrambling now to understand what the Chinese are doing and what they might have to do to compensate.
Usually all the contingencies for a spacecraft are worked out long in advance - I think it disingenuous to suggest they just decided to take a joy ride with their remaining fuel.
"Chinese Moon Probe Delivers"
It is good to know that humans will one day treat space as their play ground. To bad its not USA humans.
they want to check out that shack outside Lagrange
Space Travel - Unfit for Humanity
by Gabriel Arthur Petrie, 11-22-2009
A lot of people on Earth would like to believe that one day, maybe even in their own lifetimes, humanity will reach for the stars in great shimmering vessels. Scientists, sci-fi fans, new-age believers, and imaginative young people around the world share a common dream of exploring and colonizing the near and distant planets, even one day meeting with fellow intelligent races in this galaxy or perhaps, given enough travel time, some other galaxy.
These dreams are all very grandiose, and as engineering visions go, even noble. That we can as a species manage to conquer the stars is a warming and supportive sentiment. That we can actually achieve it within our limited means and resources from Earth is, conversely, as flighty and half-baked as any idea anyone could have. And to actually embark upon such a project, with the world's situation as it is now and obviously for the rest of time, is selfish, rude, arrogant, perhaps sadistic, and surely despotic and tyrannical if on behalf of any government.
The resources required for such an undertaking may exist here on Earth in one form or another, but those resources are too direly needed by the planet's current population to allow it all to be seized up in some dream works that are not guaranteed to produce any positive results.
The inventions brought to us by the space programs of the past are just that -- inventions, not discoveries. There is no cosmos full of advances in textiles, communications, and soft drinks waiting for us to grab it all up. If anything, we might feel sad at the wealth of new things we have in our lives brought to us by the space program, because it means there are fewer things left to be invented in the future, therefore we face a less valuable future in space program commodities enrichment.
Anyone who unwaveringly insists that there are infinite worthwhile inventions for humans (or infinite ways to improve upon what commodities do exist) has as much sense as an inbred dog and need not read further (for objective truth is wasted upon them). I should not have to explain the faulted logic behind those sorts of beliefs, and it is sad that the space program has so many supporters by way of pure stupidity. In any case, to dispel such sturdy beliefs tends to require more example than explanation, and short of witnessing firsthand the dismal ruin of humanity due to the prolonged pursuit of this sci-fi "space-faring" drama, there is not much that can convince the shuttle-hugger to change their ways.
Now, I am not saying that the space program is pure nonsense or entirely worthless. Who knows, there may be a few more inventions or advances in Earthly science that can be mined from space program research projects, but all of this can be achieved in near space. For the sake of using the space program for mere scientific advancements in entirely unrelated fields, there is no need whatsoever to set our sights on far-off places.
And metaphor be damned: this isn't a matter of the poor, humble telescope viewer being suppressed by the superstitious monarch, or a matter of how little we would know now were it not for those brave enough to cross forbidden seas in the distant past.
Building and manning a ship, making a voyage to presumably the edge of the flat earth, these are undertakings that consumed, historically, so little resource overall that compared to today's energy consumption (in, say, Spain) it is not even a fraction of a drop in a bucket. Conversely, when we talk about travel to distant stars and humanity's future among them, we're speaking of energy consumption measurable in the mineral wealth of whole planets, starting with our own, and environmental impacts that will never, ever be recovered from, right here on our home planet. And as for suppression, there simply isn't anyone to blame any more: this is a round planet and that's all that it is, and those boundaries are more firm and more unyielding than any belief that keeps one from
"Stratigraphically the origin of agriculture and thermonuclear destruction will appear essentially simultaneous" -- Lee
That's no moon probe!
Nostalgia isn't what it used to be.
China,
The secret's out. If you can build electronics that can orbit the moon, I expect you to start making electronics that don't fall apart after 90 days of use.
Sincerely,
Spoiled US Consumer
Things will only get interesting when it's headed to Deep Space 9...
I fail to understand why it has to be a race. If the Chinese want to go ahead we should let them. Why is it that we want to always stop others from doing something? Do we think that we can always be the dominant country in the world ?or for that matter any other country can continue to be the dominant country for ever ?
Its not about war turning a profit, its about staying out of a economic collapse.
Um - your subject is backwards (and rather upside down). It is precisely in humanity's lofty aspirations that space travel has value. It is trivial to demonstrate that space travel cannot solve our population problems. However - solve the latter at home and the former comes back into play. There are indeed "infinite ways to improve upon what commodities do exist" - it's called evolution. The industrial revolution wasn't principally about commodities, it was about the means of production.
...the thread title has an odd ring* to it, because (in Chinese erotic literature) imagery of the moon is used as a euphemism for anal intercourse. "The jade tree approaches the full moon", that sort of thing.
(So I guess if your probe has ventured past the moon, and into deep space, the only thing to say is "Well, congratulations, you're all the way in, and the mission's a success. But I wouldn't go that much further unless you want to run into asteroids. Oh, also, there's a right turn coming up, and I'd REALLY prefer that you didn't miss that one.")
*("Heh-heh, heh-heh, you said 'odd ring'...")
...Wal-Mart.
"establish the country's capability"? wow. sounds so 50's, when countries had actual identities and limits, before the modern economy turned everything into a commodity. it's fascinating that Chinese state organs still think in those terms - not surprising, of course, but still charmingly dated. the truth, of course, is that anyone with the right pile of cash can go to the moon or L2 or ...
...but it's not L2, at least as described in the summary. The Earth-Luna L2 point is just 64500 km further out from Earth than the center of Luna, less than 1/6 of the Earth-Luna distance.
When all you have is a hammer, everything looks like a skull.
You can say "1.5 Gigameters".
I am literally 3000 tokens away from the chaotic crossbow --Stephen
and yet still didn't get photos of the Apollo debris. it was there six months, too
this must be at least the fourth orbiter that cant find the time to photograph the stuff. Or something
of course, the Hubble telescope was supposed but didn't either.
Dear Chinese - next time please take a photo of the Apollo debris!
Nations go through cycles. China is scientifically where we were in the 1970s/80s.
That's why they are requiring Boeing, General Motors, etc to transfer technology and methodologies in order to do business in China. They will move from the 70s to 00s in years rather than decades.
I know you're just being smug but remember, you might as well paint Nazi swastikas on all of your rockets since that is where you got most of your rocket tech. And considering the Chinese invented fricking rockets in the first place, you have no basis on being smug at all.
"The probe is expected to perform exploration at L2"??
I'm picking up a lot of.... well... space... around here. Continuing exploration...
Enter the Human Reform League
The "L" in this statement, is redundant, the "L" is unnecessary.
.. hurry up and build something!
The three laws of thermodynamics:(1) You can't win. (2) You can't break even. (3) You can't even quit.
you helped me. Seriously.