Game Chang'e(r) | China Lands First Ever Probe on Dark Side of the Moon
January 3rd 2019
The Chang'e 4 landed in the south pole Aitkin basin an area includes the Von Kraman crater which is characterized as being one of the oldest, largest and deepest impact craters on the moon's surface. It is believed that this crater may actually expose the Moon's mantle.
Chang’e 4 was launched atop a Long March 3B carrier rocket on December 8 at the Xichang Satellite Launch Centre in southwest China’s Sichuan province. It entered lunar orbit four days later.
This is a landmark moment for China, in 2013 the Chinese became just the 3rd country to reach the surface of the moon. This mission legitimized China's growing space program with the successful deployment of the Chang'e 3 unmanned orbiter and landing of a lunar rover dubbed the Jade Rabbit.
Up until now, the United States has lead the way for lunar exploration with no fewer than 17 moon landings since the 1960s. Nevertheless, this a huge achievement for the rising super power as they've become the first and only nation to successfully land on the far side of the moon.
Images from the Dark Side
The very first image from the Chang'e 4 probe has been released by Chinese state media depicting the barren moonscape.
UPDATE
Newly released images of the release of the YUTU 2 rover (Jade Rabbit).
Chinese Moon Mission
The ambitious Chinese project has been in the works for ver a decade with a series of missions from Chang'e 1 to Chang'e 4 with subsequent Chang'e 5 and 6 missions to follow (and possibly beyond) culminating with a plan of a manned moon mission. This would allow Chinese astronauts to be the second nation to set foot on the moon's surface and the very first to do so on the dark side of the Earth's companion.
A major obstacle to the successful completion of the current mission has been finding a way to deal with communication and logistical problems of having a probe on the far side of the moon that would inevitably put the space crafts out of contact with scientists and engineers back on Earth.
In order to solve this issue the Chinese space program first secured a satellite on the far side of the moon, the Queqiao. The satellite itself is able to remain in stable orbit 60,000 km above the far side of the moon enabling constant communication with the probe on the surface of the moon and with ground control in Beijing.
Aboard the Chang'e 4 probe is an array of instruments ready to inspect the composition and measure the geological attributes of the moon's surface.
China National Space Administration has said that Chang’e 4’s scientific tasks included astronomical observation using low-frequency radio; surveying the terrain and land forms; detecting the mineral composition and shallow lunar surface structure; and measuring neutron radiation and neutral atoms – all to develop an understanding of the environment on the moon’s far side, also called the dark side.
The Next Phase
As part of the Chang'e Mission series the next phase, Chang'e 5, will include a lunar lander and rover capable of collecting further valuable data and samples. This phase is scheduled to take place in 2020
China will launch a returnable spacecraft called Chang’e 5 by 2020, under the third and final phase of the plan. Chang’e 5 will include a lunar lander and a rover that could return to Earth after collecting samples and performing surveys on the planet’s satellite, according to the CLEP.
Back in 2013, the Jade Rabbit lunar rover was incapacitated due to mechanical failure after only 40 days of activity. The Chinese claim that much improvement has been made and are optimistic about the performance of the future Chang'e 5 mission.
The Star
These are indeed exciting developments in the realm of space exploration as there's still so much to learn about our closest cosmic companion. Some are concerned that Chinese advancements will spark a new arms space arms race but hopefully peaceful scientific projects and future joint missions with the Chinese may prove to be beneficial for the entire human race and usher in a new era of space exploration and cooperation.
One can always hope.
At the very least, there should be some new images released in the coming days, mind you, probably highly censored.
Edit: I have corrected a statement declaring that China was the 2nd nation to successfully land on the Moon's surface. In fact, it was Soviet Union who first landed on the Moon on September 13th 1959 with an unmanned probe.
I'd really like them to send a rover to where man first stepped on the
Arizona desertMoon. Probably the most interesting item to find (or not) would be a Flag. I hear it's a bit rocky and a bit icy.Nice work with the title :D
Lol, yes, retracing the American missions would be very interesting!
It could dispel some of the myths that surround those events.
All the way to Stanley Kubrick's editing room :D
Personally, I really like that theory - quite plausible. If anyone could do it, it would be Kubrick.
LOL and oh so true.
LOL - 50 years on and they are pulling out the moon landing psyop again - and people still believe this bollocks!
"If the Chinese really have the capabilities to put a craft on the moon, why wouldn’t they roll their lunar rover past the sites of the alleged Apollo moon landings? This would be a huge boost to the Chinese no matter what they find at these sites. If they find nothing at these sites they could embarrass the United States by announcing to the world that the Americans faked the Apollo moon missions. In the unlikely scenario that there is actually gear from the Apollo missions on the lunar surface, they would be able to provide the world with concrete evidence that they are on the moon. Unfortunately for the United States government and NASA the chances of any equipment from the Apollo missions being found on the moon is virtually zero. Anyone who has examined the Apollo missions carefully would agree that these missions were faked. If they weren’t faked NASA would have had countless other successful missions to the moon in the past several decades considering the exponential increase in technological capabilities"
https://www.blacklistednews.com/China's_Moon_Landing_Hoax_Becoming_Increasingly_Obvious_By_The_Day/31573/0/5/5/Y/M.html
Bit like Russia and the USA hating each other, yet share a space station :-) and the largest laugh isssssssss the Russians have to take them to that (water tank in Russia) station.
Let us not look at the finer details, it does get a little embarrassing https://eu.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2015/08/05/nasa-keep-paying-russia-send-astronauts-space-station/31178519/
Quick drum up some more money for these clowns before America gets overtaken by China!
Gullible idiots much?
"In a letter to members of Congress who oversee NASA funding, Bolden said the $490 million contract “modification” is due mainly to Congress not providing the agency adequate resources for its Commercial Crew program. It costs U.S taxpayers about $75 million for every ride on a Soyuz rocket to the space station. Under the new contract, that will rise to nearly $82 million in 2018, according to NASA"
The devil is in the detail - few read it.
Sure, they could land a lunar rover in the same locations as the Americans but in terms of accomplishments don't you think it is or would be much more significant if the Chinese surpassed America in some way?
From this perspective they have done just that, and gone beyond America by accomplishing a feat that America has not (whether real or staged).
I don't doubt your theory, but perhaps the Chinese are giving the American's a wink and a nod with their recent accomplishments. I don't have the article at the ready but I read something to this effect last year that when the Chinese landed the Chang'e 3 (which went down after 40 days) they may have discovered something in the process. Either with something they did discover or in the absence of a discovery.
Some have theorized that the Chang'e 3 did not suffer from mechanical failure but that perhaps there was another reason for its shutdown.
The Chang'e 3 landed not too far from the Apollo 15 mission site.
Of particular interest here is one striking photograph captured by the Chang'e 3 that some believe reveals the presence of some sort of structure on the moon's surface.
I've touched on this before in a previous posts if it interests you at all.
https://steemit.com/remote-viewing/@v4vapid/remote-viewing-the-dark-side-of-the-moon-iii
I'll check out your post, but I'm surprised that you of all people think any of this is anything other than a giant scam to steal $ from American taxpayers!
Do you really believe anything, manned or unmanned, has ever landed on the moon?
unmanned yeah, like a dart on a dartboard.
I hear radiation up there is pretty intense, strong enough to go through those kit-kat wrapper suits anyway.
Not that they would know - never having been there...
I hear it's made of cheese and there are mice that have been seen by remote viewing (RV)
This moon landing by China debunks the moon landing myth of USA in the 60's validating it to be true LOL. @v4vapid
But the issue here is the capabilities of China now is not to be taken lightly.
Curated for #informationwar (by @thoughts-in-time)
Ways you can help the @informationwar!
FreezePeach
Awesome! I planned to write about it too as the second part of my regular moon post which is on schedule. :)
Greatly summed up - and congratulations to Chinese space program. More and more missions are being planned and actually accomplished.
Cheers!
Baffled that in the US we hear nothing about the space exploration accomplishments of other nations in the popular media.
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Great informative post. I have lost a bit the track of the dark side of the moon recently. Really good news. Actually, I don't care which country is the first there. Hope, one day an international lab will be on the moon to benefit all of humanity. By the way, the thing with the flag came to my mind as well in the first moment of reading your post.
Thanks, it's a subject that I'm very interested in but sort of lost track of the mission dates - was surprised to hear about it myself today. I agree with you that it really doesn't matter who it is up there, I'm just happy to see some renewed interest in the moon!
I find it odd how difficult it is to get to the moon and land on it. You'll randomly hear some interesting fact like, "The electronics in your car are far more advanced than the rockets that went to the moon." Okay, so how has the difficulty not changed in half a century?
Yes, i think that it is totally odd that the US had more then half a dozen successful manned missions from 1968-1971 but have not sent single manned mission back to the moon ever since... it really does make you wonder. And you're right, the difference between the tech of that time period and today is massive!
I would suggest that the tech of people that are waiting to call bullshit has also advanced. They could not get away with it these days!
Appreciate the way you covered this topic.
Yes China is now a super power but not officially.
China has advanced so much in a very little span of time.
They are also planning to launch an artificial moon.
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I have been watching this with interest, due to how long it took to get there, and the amount of time claimed by the USA, something does not add up, and I will let you decide whose data that is. :-)