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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...
I am curious if anyone here knows that microprocessors and OSes they are using on the craft and its instruments.
- 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.
they want to check out that shack outside Lagrange
You do realize that the US also scripts "chatter" back and forth between the ground crew and the flight crew? They very likely also write up press releases ahead of time that only get changed when something doesn't follow the plan. That China would do the same thing isn't at all surprising, or even deceiptful. The issue is one of incompetance at being unable to control release times.
As if reality isn't depressing enough as it is, you gotta go shit in my cheerios.
Well, I guess there's always more liquor...
That's no moon probe!
Nostalgia isn't what it used to be.
If you think humans lack the resources to attempt space travel, consider exchanging the budgets of NASA and the Department of Defense for a few years. NASA has done a fairly good job with a ridiculously small fraction of the USA's resources. Commit some small, constant fraction of humanity's annual output to spaceflight, and you will surely see better results from it than from a lot other pursuits.
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 ?
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.
Right. Because we're so adept at that.
The Spoon
Updated 6/28/2011
...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.
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.
I choose "ever onward" over "let's stay in our caves, where it's warm". For one, there are vast, valuable resources right here in our solar system. Perhaps one day, we'll be able to profitably harvest them. And perhaps we'll invent a few things along the way, such as advances in textiles, I mean propulsion, materials, and control systems. And with those advances in science and engineering, perhaps we'll send something to another star some day, at a reasonable cost as well.
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).
And if anything, pretty much anyone in the past who thought we had reached the pinnacle of knowledge in one field or another, has been proven wrong time and time again. Sure, it doesn't make much sense to send a probe to another star now. But anyone who unwaveringly insists that there will never be a mission to another star (or profits to be derived thereof) has as much sense as an inbred dog and need not comment further.
If construction was anything like programming, an incorrectly fitted lock would bring down the entire building...
...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
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 moon is also much to bright to point Hubble at. Maybe earthshine might not overload the cameras, but sunshine illuminating the lunar surface could well damage them.
"Think about how stupid the average person is. Now, realise that half of them are dumber than that." - George Carlin
.. 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.