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China's Chang'e-4 Launches On Mission To the Moon's Far Side (nytimes.com)
An anonymous reader quotes a report from The New York Times: China is aiming to go where no one has gone before: the far side of the moon. A rocket carrying the Chang'e-4 lunar lander blasted off at about 2:23 a.m. local time on Saturday from Xichang Satellite Launch Center in southern China. (In the United States, it was still midday Friday). Chinese authorities did not broadcast the launch, but an unofficial live stream recorded near the site showed the rocket rise from the launch pad until its flames looked like a bright star in the area's dark skies. Nearly one hour later, Xinhua, China's state-run news agency reported that Chang'e-4 had successfully launched. Exactly when it will set down at its destination has not yet been announced -- possibly in early January -- but Chang'e-4 will provide the first close-up look at a part of the moon that is eternally out of view from Earth. The rover will attempt to land in the 110-mile-wide Von Karman crater. The crater is within an area known as the South Pole-Aitken basin, a gigantic, 1,600-mile wide crater at the bottom of the moon, which has a mineralogy distinct from other locations. "That may reflect materials from the inside of the moon that were brought up by the impact that created the basin," reports The New York Times.
The suite of instruments on the rover and the lander -- cameras, ground-penetrating radar and spectrometers -- "will probe the structure of the rocks beneath the spacecraft, study the effects of the solar wind striking the lunar surface," the report says. "Chang'e-4 will also test the ability of making radio astronomy observations from the far side of the moon, without the effects of noise and interference from Earth." It will also see if plant seeds will germinate and silkworm eggs will hatch in the moon's low gravity.
The suite of instruments on the rover and the lander -- cameras, ground-penetrating radar and spectrometers -- "will probe the structure of the rocks beneath the spacecraft, study the effects of the solar wind striking the lunar surface," the report says. "Chang'e-4 will also test the ability of making radio astronomy observations from the far side of the moon, without the effects of noise and interference from Earth." It will also see if plant seeds will germinate and silkworm eggs will hatch in the moon's low gravity.
That is all we need, another space war... Thanks China!
Commies love their propaganda.
So far ahead of the game of technology and yet only just now starting to put stuff on the moon. The US did that almost 50 years ago. But, being that the US lost all of its data in order to go back to the moon, it can be said that America has forgotten more about space travel and landing on other astral bodies than everyone else knows.
/sarcasm
Politics; n. : A religion whereby man is god.
Please slap any reporter you see saying Dark Side.
Nazis?
The Six Million Dollar Man has already been there--in person, at that!
U mean this... http://dustincomics.com/files/...
[($)]
Do they have another satellite? Because how are they going to get the signals back?
Also we have already mapped the whole moon, so what do they plan to find out?
What powers the rover, I wonder? Can't be solar panels. Nuclear?
Everyone knows that's where the Nazi's are.
50 year lease of 500 acres in Argentina for their deep space satellite dish to track this launch.
...the women's rest room.
China may not always be the most popular country, but genuine scientific space exploration is something we need much more of.
I'm sure China will let us copy their results.
I'd also expect some spectacular discovery... "Chang'e-4 discovers alien crash site" or "Chang'e-4 discovers moon is actually made of Cloverdale cheese"
Why would your name be "no spam" I wonder? Irony or sarcasm? One of the two.
Not true. Plenty of trannies in teh west.
Trumpies, trannies, what's the difference.
I think the key to this is to understand how much fuel is being used and that they are likely to run into hiccups during the early part of this, due to Chinese inexperience. The Chinese strength is in achieving the goal of the mission. Perhaps if they announce details of the launch early, third parties can help smooth liftoff
> "Chang'e-4 discovers alien crash site"
I remember when "Transformers: Dark of the Moon" came out, and I saw the trailer in the theater. They showed the Apollo 11 astronauts landing, then switching over to a pre-recorded tape while they scooted off to secretly investigate an alien crash site. "We have 20 minutes..." or some such dialogue.
I thought, "They can't REALLY be suggesting that the astronauts zipped around to the far side of the moon and back in 20 minutes??"
So when it came out on video I rented the DVD. That is indeed what they were depicting. Dumb!