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China Successfully Lands Spacecraft On Far Side of the Moon (cnbc.com)

Posted by BeauHD on from the history-making dept.

State news agency Xinhua reports that China has successfully landed its Chang'e 4 spacecraft on the far side of the moon on Thursday morning, Beijing time, becoming the first country in history to touch the lunar surface unseen by those on Earth. CNBC reports: The Chang'e 4 mission launched in early December. It took the spacecraft three days to travel to the moon, where it spent the last few weeks in orbit preparing for touch down on the Von Karman crater. The crater is a relatively flat spot on the moon's far side. "China's Chang'e-4 probe softlands on Moon's far side," the state news agency tweeted on Thursday. Citing the China National Space Administration, Xinhua said the space probe, made up of a lander and a rover, "landed at the preselected landing area on the far side of the moon at 10:26 a.m. Beijing Time."

Landing on the far side is a technical challenge, as there is no direct way to communicate with the spacecraft as it nears its target. China put a relay satellite in orbit around the moon in May to overcome that communication challenge. The far side of the moon has been seen and mapped before, even by astronauts of the Apollo missions. But the successful landing of Chang'e 4 represents the first time any spacecraft has touched down on the moon's far side.

6 of 212 comments (clear)

  1. Nice by boulat · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Be gracious, lad. This is an achievement worthy of a admiration.

    1. Re:Nice by AmiMoJo · · Score: 5, Interesting

      It's a real shame that the US won't work with China. The ESA does, but NASA is barred from doing so and it's a loss for everyone.

      In a way it might actually be for the best though. Everyone was kind of following the US lead for the longest time, but now have realized that the US isn't really committed and that there are other opportunities, other players, we are starting to see things move more quickly again.

      --
      const int one = 65536; (Silvermoon, Texture.cs)
      SJW, n: "Someone I don't like, and by the way I'm a fuckwit" - AC
    2. Re:Nice by Oswald+McWeany · · Score: 5, Interesting

      It's a real shame that the US won't work with China. The ESA does, but NASA is barred from doing so and it's a loss for everyone.

      In a way it might actually be for the best though. Everyone was kind of following the US lead for the longest time, but now have realized that the US isn't really committed and that there are other opportunities, other players, we are starting to see things move more quickly again.

      Space exploration (and science in general) is more political in the US than most other countries. Cooperating with the US on long term missions can be tricky because potentially every 4 years you have a new executive leader in charge and the executive leader is for some reason in charge of what scientific missions can and will be done and can tear up past agreements and contracts.

      Although usually the West more aligns politically and socially with the US, and so the US ideally would be the science partner for the West- the political instability of American Science funding being tied to which political party is in charge might mean China is a better (more stable) partner for long term science cooperations despite their messed up political and social systems.

      --
      "That's the way to do it" - Punch
  2. Re:I knew that name sounded familiar ... by Zocalo · · Score: 5, Informative

    The crater is named for Theodore von Kármán a prominent early rocket scientist who is better known for the Karman Line, the notional point at which the atmosphere becomes too thin to support aeronautical flight. This is also referred to as the point at which space begins and is defined by the FAI at 100km, although the USAF and NASA award outer space badges at 80km and the actual point will vary depending on atmospheric conditions. In that light, it seems quite likely that KSP named their character as a nod to both von Kármán and Werner von Braun, so yes, there is a relation of sorts.

    --
    UNIX? They're not even circumcised! Savages!
  3. Re: Did they really? by gtall · · Score: 4, Funny

    I heard the Finns sweep their forests, that's why they never have forest fires.

  4. Re:And... by thegarbz · · Score: 4, Funny

    what did you find...? Missing somthing...?

    Pink Floyd. They were irate since they've been waiting there for us since the 70s and were wondering if we would ever show.