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China's Chang'e-4 Launches On Mission To the Moon's Far Side (nytimes.com)

Posted by BeauHD on from the dark-side-of-the-moon dept.

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.

17 of 41 comments (clear)

  1. Dang China by BringsApples · · Score: 1

    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

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    Politics; n. : A religion whereby man is god.
  2. Far Side by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    Please slap any reporter you see saying Dark Side.

    1. Re:Far Side by The+Grim+Reefer · · Score: 1

      The "Dark" part simply means that we (used to) lack information about this side. Until the Apollo program nobody had ever seen it.

      I always thought it was the far side of the moon. At least that's what I remember everyone calling it until Pink Floyd released "The Dark Side of the Moon". To be fair, it was a hugely popular album. I think it stayed on the Billboard charts for fifteen years after it's release.

    2. Re:Far Side by Aighearach · · Score: 1

      What's wrong with Pink Floyd, man?

      Did you have a bad trip or something?

  3. Ohhh the Far Side... by wolfheart111 · · Score: 1

    U mean this... http://dustincomics.com/files/...

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  4. No signal on the Far side by neoRUR · · Score: 1

    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?

    1. Re:No signal on the Far side by JaredOfEuropa · · Score: 2

      They do have a satellite in orbit around the moon to relay the signals. And they are not mapping the moon but exploring the surface.

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      If construction was anything like programming, an incorrectly fitted lock would bring down the entire building...
    2. Re:No signal on the Far side by godel_56 · · Score: 3, Informative

      They do have a satellite in orbit around the moon to relay the signals. And they are not mapping the moon but exploring the surface.

      I don't know that it's actually in orbit. The comms satellite is beyond the Moon in the L2 point of gravitational balance with the Moon and the Earth. Because the Moon is smaller than the Earth, apparently there's enough room to 'peek around the side" and relay signals to Earth.

    3. Re:No signal on the Far side by scdeimos · · Score: 3, Informative

      Do they have another satellite? Because how are they going to get the signals back?

      It's communicating via the previously launched Queqiao "Magpie Bridge" relay satellite which is in a halo orbit around the second Earth-Moon Lagrange point (E-M L2). REFs:

      1. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chang%27e_4#Lander_and_rover
      2. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2018_in_spaceflight#May
    4. Re:No signal on the Far side by cavreader · · Score: 1

      I'm still a little hazy on the "planting seeds to see if anything will grow" part of the mission. And China is hedging it's bet by landing on the dark side so if their probe crashes no body will see it.

    5. Re:No signal on the Far side by neoRUR · · Score: 1

      So they are planing a plant to claim the territory?

    6. Re:No signal on the Far side by Aighearach · · Score: 1

      I've seen the cartoon version, it's pretty awesome.

      Don't worry if it crashes, those mutant girls are pretty strong. They'll find a way to complete the mission. At least, until they make the mistake of planting the seeds...

    7. Re:No signal on the Far side by JaredOfEuropa · · Score: 1

      You're right, it's at L2 in what's referred to as a "halo orbit". So still an orbit! (to be honest I thought it was actually orbiting the moon)

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      If construction was anything like programming, an incorrectly fitted lock would bring down the entire building...
  5. What powers the rover? by Shouldbeworking · · Score: 1

    What powers the rover, I wonder? Can't be solar panels. Nuclear?

    1. Re:What powers the rover? by Megol · · Score: 1

      RTG using plutonium most likely, high (relatively) power output in a compact package.

    2. Re:What powers the rover? by Gavagai80 · · Score: 3, Informative

      There is a legitimate concern with using solar panels somewhere that has 2 week long nights. But you're correct that they're combining nuclear with solar to address that, having the lander power down and not do any work at night with the nuclear being just enough to keep it warm:

      "The rover and the lander feature solar panels for daytime power and operation, along with nuclear plutonium-238 heaters to keep their electronic components warm during the two-week-long lunar night." (source)

      Apparently solar is enough cheaper or longer lasting than other options that it's worth being limited to half time operation.

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  6. China is aiming to go where no man has gone before by nospam007 · · Score: 1

    ...the women's rest room.