Jade Rabbit Spotted By American Eagle (LRO)

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Jade Rabbit Spotted By American Eagle (LRO)

Posted by Soulskill on Tuesday December 31, 2013 @10:10AM from the hey-there-little-buddy dept.

An anonymous reader writes "Having already imaged the Apollo landing sites on the Moon, the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter has now added China's recent lander and rover to its collection of snapshots."

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Prey! by riverat1 · 2013-12-31 10:13 · Score: 5, Funny

And the Jade Rabbit starts dodging wildly to escape the Eagle
1. Re:Prey! by Chris+Mattern · 2013-12-31 10:20 · Score: 4, Funny
  
  "Houston, this is Tranquility Base. The Eagle has breakfasted."
2. Re:Prey! by hamisht · 2013-12-31 11:00 · Score: 5, Funny
  
  "Shhh. Be vewy vewy quiet, I'm hunting wabbits"
3. Re:Prey! by rallytales · 2013-12-31 11:31 · Score: 1
  
  "Houston, the rabbit has landed."
  
  "Roger that, Eagle."
4. Re:Prey! by drmofe · 2013-12-31 11:52 · Score: 2
  
  I just can't help reading the name "Jade Rabbit" and wondering why the Chinese thought it would be a good name for a probe
  Oh, wait...
5. Re:Prey! by Chris+Mattern · 2013-12-31 12:46 · Score: 4, Insightful
  
  For one thing, it fits with the moon theme. Where in the West, we see a Man in the Moon, China and Japan see a Rabbit in the Moon. The Chinese sometimes call this rabbit "the jade rabbit".
6. Re:Prey! by Anonymous Coward · 2013-12-31 14:10 · Score: 0
  
  Needs a more specific definition of "West".. Here in Mexico it's a rabbit too, since pre-Hispanic times. And AFAIK it's a rabbit everywhere in America, although I don't know much about this. I didn't know there were places where it was a man.
7. Re:Prey! by thebigmacd · 2013-12-31 17:45 · Score: 1
  
  In Canada and the US it's generally called "the Man in the Moon".
NASA Surveillance by Anonymous Coward · 2013-12-31 10:16 · Score: 0

...and people are worried about the NSA - this is well beyond their reach!
Still think it's a hoax now? by Anonymous Coward · 2013-12-31 10:17 · Score: 0

Hating the Chinese does their achievements a disservice.
1. Re:Still think it's a hoax now? by RelaxedTension · 2013-12-31 11:11 · Score: 1
  
  Umm, what the hell are you talking about? No one here is hating on the Chinese for this, and I dare say the pictures aren't exactly proof of anything. It's a couple of pixels with an arrow pointing to it. I'm not saying the lander is a hoax though, and didn't know anyone was.
  
  You do come across like one of those paid Chinese propagandists though, mr. anonymous coward.
2. Re:Still think it's a hoax now? by Anonymous Coward · 2013-12-31 11:48 · Score: 0, Troll
  
  You do come across like one of those paid Chinese propagandists though, mr. anonymous coward.
  It's MISTEL ANONYMOUS COWALD ...
3. Re:Still think it's a hoax now? by mrchaotica · 2013-12-31 13:18 · Score: 1
  
  I won't believe it until Jade Rabbit takes a picture of footprints or flags!
  Oh wait, wrong hoax...
  (By the way, speaking of flags... am I the only one that thinks it's a terrible coincidence that they've faded to white just as the Chinese showed up?)
  
  --
  "[Regarding the 'cloud,'] ownership was what made America different than Russia." -- Woz
4. Re:Still think it's a hoax now? by X0563511 · 2014-01-02 05:19 · Score: 1
  
  They faded to white a long time ago, so it's hardly coincidental.
  
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  For large sets, this will be our guide even unto death, for the LORD will work for each type of data it is applied to...
Once Again by The+Cat · 2013-12-31 10:21 · Score: 2, Insightful

America is confronted by its absence in matters of competence, courage, integrity and enterprise.
We as a nation have completely lost our ability to create. We no longer invent. We no longer explore. We are content to sit on our wider and wider asses and make rude noises from the back of the class while our beloved government spends $600 million in a failed attempt to build a web site.
Do you ever wonder where the software business went? Ever wonder why something everyone needs and everyone wants has been relegated to the retail equivalent of a grocery store candy rack?
I propose it went to the same place as the space program. Those capable of making software and spacecraft were fired from their jobs because in 2014 America it is more profitable to destroy people's careers and the companies they build than it is to sell the products they used to make.
It does not take MBA level education to drown a company in money, fire the employees and sell off the wreckage. That is happening to every company in this country, most recently with the auto industry.
America invented the 20th century between 1950 and 1970, during a time when the average wage doubled. Since then, the average wage has dropped over 20% during the greatest increase in productivity in the history of man.
And there are still people in this country who will claim its the fault of those who were fired they don't have jobs any more.
As proof of my thesis, watch the "nuh uhhhh!" replies to this post.
1. Re:Once Again by Anonymous Coward · 2013-12-31 10:39 · Score: 0
  
  "It does not take MBA level education to drown a company in money, fire the employees and sell off the wreckage." Correct, just the diploma.
2. Re:Once Again by rev0lt · 2013-12-31 10:46 · Score: 4, Insightful
  
  America invented the 20th century between 1950 and 1970, during a time when the average wage doubled.
  If you look closely, it almost seems like the other "big" countries were a wreck during that period... as if they were recovering from a devastating war.
3. Re:Once Again by Anonymous Coward · 2013-12-31 11:09 · Score: 0
  
  America invented the 20th century between 1950 and 1970, during a time when the average wage doubled.
  If you look closely, it almost seems like the other "big" countries were a wreck during that period... as if they were recovering from a devastating war.
  Don't worry. It won't take long for the Europeans to self destruct again and America will be there to pick up the pieces. It will probably begin with Spain, Italy, or Greece deciding they don't need to pay back loans to German banks. The Germans obviously won't be too happy about this and decide to show up to collect.
4. Re:Once Again by umafuckit · 2013-12-31 11:15 · Score: 2
  
  Don't worry. It won't take long for the Europeans to self destruct again and America will be there to pick up the pieces.
  I wonder, do you really believe what you're saying?
  
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5. Re:Once Again by wonkey_monkey · 2013-12-31 11:57 · Score: 1
  
  America is confronted by its absence in matters of competence, courage, integrity and enterprise.
  America can get much better pictures back from 600x further away, though.
  
  --
  systemd is Roko's Basilisk.
6. Re:Once Again by Krishnoid · 2013-12-31 12:00 · Score: 1
  
  ... We no longer invent. We no longer explore. We are content to sit on our wider and wider asses and make rude noises from the back of the class while our beloved government spends $600 million in a failed attempt to build a web site.
  Well, and to also sit around comfortably while remotely exploring the next frontier into this decade thanks to the quality of our engineering.
7. Re:Once Again by Anonymous Coward · 2013-12-31 12:12 · Score: 1
  
  Right now, on Mars, there is a one-ton six wheeled robot with a laser strapped to it's head.
  Your argument is invalid.
8. Re:Once Again by drinkypoo · 2013-12-31 12:45 · Score: 1
  
  America is confronted by its absence in matters of competence, courage, integrity and enterprise.
  Well, you're right on all but the first one. We could do it. We just aren't.
  
  --
  "You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
9. Re:Once Again by Fned · 2013-12-31 12:55 · Score: 0
  
  America is confronted by its absence in matters of competence, courage, integrity and enterprise.
  Didn't our nuclear-powered laser robot just discover water on Mars...?
10. Re:Once Again by Pumpkin+Tuna · 2013-12-31 13:11 · Score: 1
  
  Yes, I'm glad we had our satellite up there making a super-cool, highly-detailed 3d map of the moon so that we could take pictures of China showing us how we can't do things like that anymore.
11. Re:Once Again by khallow · 2013-12-31 17:02 · Score: 1
  
  Well, and to also sit around comfortably while remotely exploring the next frontier into this decade thanks to the quality of our engineering.
  Too bad there's no ambition to go with that engineering.
12. Re:Once Again by khallow · 2013-12-31 17:05 · Score: 1
  
  Right now, on Mars, there is a one-ton six wheeled robot with a laser strapped to it's head.
  How many rovers does that make again? Four right? Over forty years of Mars exploration. Low expectations strike again.
13. Re:Once Again by rev0lt · 2013-12-31 18:57 · Score: 1
  
  Don't worry. It won't take long for the Europeans to self destruct again and America will be there to pick up the pieces.
  Are you talking about the same country it seems to spy everyone everywhere but could not find a single guy living in Pakistan (an allied country) as a neighbour to american military settlements? That America or the one that only seems to exist in your head?
14. Re:Once Again by the+gnat · 2013-12-31 19:03 · Score: 1
  
  Others have already addressed the many problems with your tired rant, which is basically a carbon copy of the same crap that gets posted every time there's an article remotely related to the American space program, but I'll just focus on this bit of ignorance:
  America invented the 20th century between 1950 and 1970, during a time when the average wage doubled. Since then, the average wage has dropped over 20% during the greatest increase in productivity in the history of man.
  The high wages between 1950 and 1970 were partly the result of America being the dominant economic power at a time when most of the rest of the world was either dirt poor to begin with, or crippled by war. China was still a nation of peasants and had just spent the previous 35 years in constant civil war, when it wasn't being ravaged by Japan. India had only just become an independent nation. Today, thanks to the mixed blessing of global capitalism, these two nations have hundreds of millions of middle-class citizens whose lives would have been utterly miserable in that same time period. You're basically blaming Americans for the fact that we were spectacularly lucky* for a few decades before the rest of the world started to catch up.
  (* Not to imply that America won WWII because of luck - just that our postwar status was unusually advantageous.)
15. Re:Once Again by Eunuchswear · 2013-12-31 23:44 · Score: 1
  
  America invented the 20th century between 1950 and 1970, during a time when the average wage doubled.
  If you look closely, it almost seems like the other "big" countries were a wreck during that period... as if they were recovering from a devastating war.
  Well, no.
  The period from 1945 to 1975 is known as "Les Trente Glorieuses" (the Glorious 30) in France - during that time there was full employment, growing wages. It can be argued that the war (or, more exactly the recovery from it) was the basis of this period of growth rather than being a drag.
  
  --
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16. Re:Once Again by DerekLyons · 2014-01-01 05:40 · Score: 1
  
  As proof of my thesis, watch the "nuh uhhhh!" replies to this post.
  Ah, the old "they laughed at Columbus" defense. Well, they laughed at the Marx Brothers and Bozo the Clown too.
  
  But that's pretty much all the reply you rate - your post is nothing but a rant that isn't insightful and says more about your bias and blinders than anything else.
17. Re:Once Again by mikael · 2014-01-01 07:03 · Score: 1
  
  Then the Western powers signed "The Lima Declaration of 1975" and gave away 30% of our manufacturing capability in order to keep OPEC happy.
  
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18. Re:Once Again by mikael · 2014-01-01 07:04 · Score: 1
  
  Stereoscopic images are even better - especially when viewed using those polarized filter or shutter glasses:
  http://lcni.uoregon.edu/~dow/Marks_photos/stereo_pairs/Apollo_moon/Stereo_pairs_of_moon.html
  
  --
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19. Re:Once Again by antdude · 2014-01-01 07:42 · Score: 1
  
  uh huh
  
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20. Re:Once Again by rev0lt · 2014-01-01 09:04 · Score: 1
  
  I'd say that part of that prosperity derived from American support, including financial one with plan Marshall. France finished WWII with most of their core infrastructure intact, in contrast with the devastated cities of the nearby countries (UK, Spain - from civil war, Germany, etc), and they quickly learned how to modernize their industry by using the american example.
21. Re:Once Again by the+gnat · 2014-01-02 18:27 · Score: 1
  
  A handful of nations had their military and military production destroyed. Among them Great Britain, which alone accounted for over one-quarter of worldwide exports in 1950.
  The European colonial empires basically disintegrated as a result of the war. Great Britain also had food rationing well into the 1950s (possibly even into the 60s), which gives you some idea of what the economic situation was like, and it was basically a command economy at that point. People forget this now because the word "socialist" has been horribly abused by the American right, but the UK really was socialist back then, and its economy was predictably sluggish as a result.
  And you didn't address the rest of my point: the countries that have sucked the manufacturing jobs out of the US were mostly incredibly poor 50 years ago. It took several decades for any of them to make real economic progress, during which time we had a huge advantage.
  We didn't conduct genocide against the Axis.
  No, we merely bombed them into submission, eliminating a large chunk of their industry in the process - including some unfortunate occupied nations. (Go visit Rotterdam some time - the city dates back to the 13th century but there are hardly any prewar buildings because we blew up the rest to prevent the Germans from using the port.) The Russians pretty much strip-mined their chunk of Germany (and then mismanaged that and everything else they occupied).
  We also rebuilt their economies.
  Which basically illustrates my point: the US - and no one else - was in the position to rebuild the economies of what had been (and still are) major industrial powers.
  So what my grandparents and parents built from 1950 to 1970 was luck?
  No, the fact that their wages were unusually high was luck.
  Wow, you are one towering arrogant asshole aren't you? Don't like America much either it seems.
  Says the guy who started his post with "America is confronted by its absence in matters of competence, courage, integrity and enterprise." I'm attempting to defend America against your charge that it sucks compared to the good old days when men were real men, gays stayed in the closet, blacks knew their place, and the threat of nuclear war was ever-present. I like it here just fine, and I'd vastly prefer to live in the US of 2013 than the US of 1963, even if I now have to compete with people in China and India and can't afford to drive a car that gets 8 MPG like your grandparents could.
Too late by Anonymous Coward · 2013-12-31 10:22 · Score: 1

the lunar nuclear base has already been constructed.
Summary... by freeze128 · 2013-12-31 10:24 · Score: 1

Lunar Orbiter images a single pixel - it must be the Chineese lander.
1. Re:Summary... by Em+Adespoton · 2013-12-31 10:29 · Score: 5, Funny
  
  Lunar Orbiter images a single pixel - it must be the Chineese lander.
  Actually, it was two double pixels if you look at the images... and they're right where the Chinese claim to be.
  I do wonder what the Chinese had to do to get access to the secret set at Universal Studios though....
2. Re:Summary... by Anonymous Coward · 2013-12-31 13:04 · Score: 0
  
  Also note that the pixels have shadows that are probably about as long as one would expect for the lander and the rover.
3. Re:Summary... by savuporo · 2013-12-31 14:47 · Score: 1
  
  Definitely more pixels than two there. just the lander white blob is about 6 pixels high, with some blur, and rover about 4. add shadows etc, we are easily talking about 50 pixels here !
  
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4. Re:Summary... by michelcolman · 2013-12-31 23:25 · Score: 1
  
  And then they haven't even started enhancing it yet! We might even get a picture of the LRO reflected in the solar panels.
5. Re:Summary... by savuporo · 2014-01-01 07:29 · Score: 1
  
  What, you think they dont have Enhance button in LRO control room ?
  
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It had to be said... by sconeu · 2013-12-31 10:33 · Score: 5, Funny

nuh uhhhh!

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I'd be much more impressed by ChrisMaple · 2013-12-31 13:09 · Score: 1

If only they'd spotted Jessica Rabbit.

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Re: FOOD TO GO! by Anonymous Coward · 2013-12-31 15:30 · Score: 0

Death Star. They plan on storing ICBMs on the lunar surface in the future. Or, at least that's what the PLA hopes to get out all this effort.
Didn't you see the pic of the rover with the a Earth in the background? Look closer; see that mushroom cloud over Europe?! Pretty fucked up fantasy if you ask me.
Re:Correlated with rising government social spendi by Eunuchswear · 2013-12-31 23:47 · Score: 2

Have you considered that you've confused cause and effect?
Government social spending rises as the population gets poorer. How amazing.

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Visit Lunokhod! by braindrainbahrain · 2014-01-01 02:14 · Score: 1

One of the photos in the TFA shows a Lunokhod, one of the Russian landers made in the 70's, only a few hundred kilometers away. Maybe Jade Rabbit can swing by for visit.
Darn by Anonymous Coward · 2014-01-01 12:59 · Score: 0

Darn, we shoulda gone to the moon with a lander to prove we could instead of putting one on Mars