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China Launches Satellite To Explore Dark Side of Moon (reuters.com)

Posted by msmash on from the up,-up,-and-away dept.

China launched a relay satellite early on Monday designed to establish a communication link between earth and a planned lunar probe that will explore the dark side of the moon, the official Xinhua news agency said. From a report: Citing the China National Space Administration, Xinhua said the satellite was launched at 5:28 a.m. (2128 GMT Sunday) on a Long March-4C rocket from the Xichang launch center in the southwest of the country. "The launch is a key step for China to realize its goal of being the first country to send a probe to soft-land on and rove the far side of the moon," Xinhua quoted Zhang Lihua, manager of the relay satellite project, as saying.

8 of 120 comments (clear)

  1. "DARK SIDE OF THE MOON" by Mattcelt · · Score: 5, Insightful

    "Dark" side of the moon? In this day and age, seriously?? Even the translation of China's press release correctly refers to it as the FAR side of the moon, which actually gets slightly MORE light than the near side!

    1. Re:"DARK SIDE OF THE MOON" by cayenne8 · · Score: 5, Interesting
      There is no dark side of the moon really....

      'matter of fact, it's all dark....thump thump....thump thump....thump thump.....

      --
      Light travels faster than sound. This is why some people appear bright until you hear them speak.........
    2. Re:"DARK SIDE OF THE MOON" by djh101010 · · Score: 5, Informative

      It's just a Pink Floyd quote. Calm your tits, man.

    3. Re:"DARK SIDE OF THE MOON" by slashdice · · Score: 3, Funny

      Worst appeal to authority ever.

      --
      Copyright (c) 1990 - 2014 Dice. All rights reserved. Use of this comment is subject to certain Terms and Conditions.
    4. Re:"DARK SIDE OF THE MOON" by jellomizer · · Score: 3, Informative

      "For instance, did you think that the "deep, dark heart of the jungle" referred to an area we knew was in the shade?"

      Well kinda. The Jungle is heavily forested, the further you go in it beyond man influence. There are not having trees knocked down and a lot of growth overhead, so going deep into the Jungle it will get physically dark. The same if you go into a forest. Deep in the forests it gets somewhat dark. Enough for most vegetation shorter then a tree to not get enough light to grow. Hence why there isn't much grass in a forest.

      --
      If something is so important that you feel the need to post it on the internet... It probably isn't that important.
  2. Re:Big deal. We launched real people and returned. by KixWooder · · Score: 4, Informative

    Actually we do have photos. http://www.skyandtelescope.com...

    --
    I hate fat people.
  3. Dark Side of the Moon. Ah wedding memories. by fahrbot-bot · · Score: 3, Insightful

    My wife and I had our wedding and (self-catered) reception in our home in Dec 1989 -- described as a wedding and cocktail party on the invitations we made. We had (and I still have) a Pioneer PD-M40 6-disc CD player programmed to play the last three discs in rotation, which were George Winston. My grandfather unplugged the equipment during the ceremony and plugged it back in afterward. The player automatically plays the first disc (if present) on power up. The first three discs were Pink Floyd, with the first being Dark Side of the Moon.

    Don't know if that was an omen, but we were happily together from the summer of 1985 until Jan 2006, when she died.

    Remember Sue...

    --
    It must have been something you assimilated. . . .
  4. Re:I've got a better idea by glenebob · · Score: 3, Interesting

    There is no dark side of Detroit. Matter of fact, it's all dark.

    It's Pink Floyd jokes all the way down.