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China Set To Launch First-Ever Spacecraft to the Far Side of the Moon, Will Attempt To Grow Plant There (scientificamerican.com)

Posted by msmash on from the up-next dept.

AmiMoJo writes: Later this week, China plans to launch its Chang'e-4 spacecraft to the far side of the lunar surface. The aim is to land a rover on the dark side of the moon for the first time. Blocked from direct communication with the Earth, the lander and rover will depend on China's Queqiao communication satellite launched in May. If the landing is successful, the mission's main job will be to investigate this side of the lunar surface, which is peppered with many small craters. The lander will also conduct the first radio astronomy experiments from the far side of the Moon -- and the first investigations to see whether plants will grow in the low-gravity lunar environment.

The ultimate goal of the China National Space Administration (CNSA) is to create a Moon base for future human exploration there, although it has not announced when that might happen. Chang'e-4 will be the country's second craft to 'soft' land on the lunar surface, following Chang'e-3's touchdown in 2013.

4 of 138 comments (clear)

  1. Hopeful by TimMD909 · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Hopefully this will start a new space race, and focus the US on kicking ass in space. We're the only ones to successfully land on Mars, but we shouldn't get lazy and stop boldly going where... Dammit. ST:TNG marathon is what I'll be doing now.

    1. Re:Hopeful by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Interesting

      Ah, nope, Mars 3 of the soviets did the first ever soft landing on Mars. It stopped working within seconds after landing, but it did land successfully. Not much compared to success of later Viking 1 lander, but they did get that first landing milestone. Sort of like posting "First!" on Slashdot, not much content, but at least it's the first one.

    2. Re:Hopeful by Tablizer · · Score: 3, Interesting

      Mars 3 of the soviets did the first ever soft landing on Mars. It stopped working within seconds after landing...

      There was a dust storm in the area, which may have affected the electronics. The dust storm was known about via Earth telescopes, but these particular probes had no ability to hang out in orbit to wait out a dust storm.

      At the time, it was also speculated that it sank in something akin to quicksand. In case the same thing happened to the upcoming Viking mission, the Viking cameras were programmed to photograph a footpad and send it almost immediately after landing. That way, they'd at least get one photo, and verify the quicksand theory if the probe went dark.

      In the very first photo ever taken from the surface of Mars, the left side is kind of foggy. This is because dust was still in the air from the landing rockets. The cameras "scanned" in strips somewhat like a fax machine, so that as the scan "beam" moved right, the dust had settled.

      The quick-sand theory has now been pretty much ruled out, leaving the dust-storm theory as the most plausible reason for the short life of Mars 3. Or maybe it just failed on its own.

      --
      Table-ized A.I.
  2. Re:On the dark side? by ShanghaiBill · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Being that, from time to time, the Earth blocks light from the sun to the moon (a lunar eclipse), the other side gets more light.

    I don't think so. Lunar eclipses occur so infrequently that the total amount of light blocked is inconsequential.

    Meanwhile, the nearside gets "earthshine": reflected sunlight from the earth. The earth is much bigger than the moon, and the albedo of earth's clouds is much higher than lunar regolith, so earthshine on the moon is much brighter than moonshine on the earth.

    Ergo, the nearside gets more light.