China lands spacecraft on 'dark' side of moon in world first

[space otter]

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/technology/china-lands-spacecraft-on-dark-side-of-moon-in-world-first/ar-BBRJVAr?li=BBnb7Kz

China lands spacecraft on 'dark' side of moon in world first
2 hrs ago

BEIJING — China's burgeoning space program achieved a first on Thursday: a landing on the so-called dark side of the moon that brings the country closer to its goal of becoming a space power.

Three nations — the United States, the former Soviet Union and more recently China — have sent spacecraft to the near side of the moon, which faces Earth, but this landing is the first-ever on the far side.

The China National Space Administration said the 10:26 a.m. touchdown of the Chang'e 4 craft has "opened up a new chapter in human lunar exploration."

A photo taken at 11:40 a.m. and sent back by Chang'e 4 shows a small crater and a barren surface that appears to be illuminated by a light from the lunar explorer. Its name comes from that of a Chinese goddess who, according to legend, has lived on the moon for millennia.

The landing highlights China's growing ambitions to rival the U.S., Russia and Europe in space, and more broadly, to cement the nation's position as a regional and global power.

"The space dream is part of the dream to make China stronger," President Xi Jinping said in 2013, shortly after becoming China's leader.



1/5 SLIDES © The Associated Press
In this photo provided Jan. 3, 2019, by China National Space Administration via Xinhua News Agency, the first image of the moon's far side taken by China's Chang'e-4 probe. A Chinese spacecraft on Thursday, Jan. 3, made the first-ever landing on the far side of the moon, state media said. The lunar explorer Chang'e 4 touched down at 10:26 a.m., China Central Television said in a brief announcement at the top of its noon news broadcast.(China National Space Administration/Xinhua News Agency via AP)

In year-end wrap-ups, Chinese media and officials hailed the Dec. 8 launch of Chang'e 4 as one of the nation's major achievements in 2018. The landing on Thursday was announced to the public by state broadcaster CCTV at the top of the noon news.

"On the whole, China's space technology still lags behind the West, but with the landing on the far side of the moon, we have raced to the front," said Hou Xiyun, a professor at Nanjing University's school of astronomy and space science.

He added that China has Mars, Jupiter and asteroids in its sights: "There's no doubt that our nation will go farther and farther."

In 2013, Chang'e 3, the predecessor craft to the current mission, made the first moon landing since the former Soviet Union's Luna 24 in 1976. The United States is the only country that has successfully sent a person to the moon, though China is considering a crewed mission too.

For now, it plans to send a Chang'e 5 probe to the moon next year and have it return to Earth with samples — also not done since the Soviet mission in 1976.

The moon's far side isn't always dark but is sometimes called the dark side because it faces away from Earth and is relatively unknown. It has a different composition than the near side, where previous missions have landed.

Chang'e 4, a combined lander and rover, will make astronomical observations and probe the structure and mineral composition of the terrain above and below the surface.

"The far side of the moon is a rare quiet place that is free from interference from radio signals from Earth," mission spokesman Yu Guobin said, according to the official Xinhua News Agency. "This probe can fill the gap of low-frequency observation in radio astronomy and will provide important information for studying the origin of stars and nebula evolution."

One challenge of operating on the far side of the moon is communicating with Earth. China launched a relay satellite in May so that Chang'e 4 can send back information.

China conducted its first crewed space mission in 2003, becoming only the third country to do so after Russia and the U.S. It has put a pair of space stations into orbit and plans to launch a Mars rover in the mid-2020s. Its space program suffered a rare setback last year with the failed launch of its Long March 5 rocket.

Wu Weiren, the chief designer of the China Lunar Exploration Project, called the landing a trailblazing milestone.

"Building a space power is a dream that we persistently pursue," he said in an interview with CCTV at the Beijing Aerospace Flight and Control Center. "And we're gradually realizing it."

Associated Press writer Yanan Wang and researcher Shanshan Wang contributed to this story.

[Canine]

Isn't the the world still legitimately waiting for another nation to photograph the apollo landers with their own lunar orbiter?

No other nation has photographed the apollo landers on the moon... oh yeah there's reflectors but that's not the issue here.

a 3d model from japan yes, a photo from anyone other than the USA, forget it.

Does anyone think the chinese are going to change that?

[ArMaP]

Isn't the the world still legitimately waiting for another nation to photograph the apollo landers with their own lunar orbiter?

I'm not.

[zorgon]

China has a Space program? Really?


ShenZhou 7 space walk was filmed under water, the bubbles were easy to see on the YT video and spotted by Chinese watchers...

Also the 'live' transmission was on a Thursday, but the launch was on Friday...  China says 'oops technical error'

NORAD says: 'only thing China launched was an ISBM test on Sunday

China reveals awesome moon photo!!! Says 'we found new crater'  Emily Lackdewanna from Planetary Science says "new crater is a stitching overlay error and the images are old Clementine data"


This new photo on the moon... really? where are the jagged rocks? where are the mountains?  what is the diameter of the moon? LOOK at that horizon and that curve...

Does ANYONE actually believe that is a crater on the Moon?

[WhatTheHey]

  If I remember right....When they did there first landing there were apparent giant foot prints in the background of at least one of the pictures. (as though the landers were just small models.) With that in mind I'm going along with Zorgon.
There are pics of there first landing I mentioned here on Pegasus in another thread.
Looks like more of the same.


WhatTheHey

[space otter]

so what you guys are saying is that china  going to the moon is
big fat fake news


sigh

[BadHairDay]

Bwahahaha!! and who is going to refute them? The Yanks? Nope... The Ruskies? Nope... it took them a while to catch on, but neither of the big two can say it's faked as it will show them selves up in the process. Dont want to be digging too deep now. Those bubbles were bad enough, and I'm sure an email or two were sent explaining how to get rid of them, and how to use a zero-G plane more effectively, all be it, for small sessions. Lots of transitions.

... but I still really want to believe we went there... sigh.

[zorgon]

so what you guys are saying is that china  going to the moon is
big fat fake news
sigh

It appears so yes...

Rememmer the japanese "Hi Res video' of the moon fly over?  It looked like a plaster of paris model  and the most important issue, not counting the fact that there were no recognizable features in the film, was the SHADOWS...

The Japanese craft orbited from pole to pole... so with the sun behind it the shadow at 'noon' as the craft crossed the equator should be ZERO and as the craft moved over the pole into the dark the shadows would get very long...  however the shadows showed no change at all as the craft flew over the surface...

It is detail like that we need to look at

[zorgon]

Chang'E 3 Surface of the Moon


Lunar surface / Image courtesy of Chinese Academy of Sciences / China National Space Administration / The Science and Application Center for Moon and Deepspace Exploration / Emily Lakdawalla


Yutu rover tracks / Image courtesy of Chinese Academy of Sciences / China National Space Administration / The Science and Application Center for Moon and Deepspace Exploration / Emily Lakdawalla



Yutu Rover / Image Courtesy of Chinese Academy of Sciences / China National Space Administration / The Science and Application Center for Moon and Deepspace Exploration / Emily Lakdawalla



https://techcrunch.com/2016/01/30/china-just-released-true-color-hd-photos-of-the-moon/

[fansongecho]

Dumb question coming up...

The Chinese have landed on the dark side of the moon - why are there no stars apparent in their images ?

Say whuut?? 

Seriously??  pmsl @ this.

Things that make you go Hhhhhmmmm.... 

Cheers,

Fans'

[WhatTheHey]

Nasa has said in the past that the reason the moon pictures don't show the stars in the back ground is because of the high exposure in the foreground. (The brightness.) Does this apply to them as well?
Perhaps its true...... perhaps its not! With all the hype given to us from most all sides,,,,,, WHO KNOWS!
Gona have to go there and check it out one day!  Seems to be getting so the only way to really know if what your told is true or not, is to check it yourself. That gets hard to do with so much going on.....lol

WhatTheHey

[The Seeker]

Gona have to go there and check it out one day!  Seems to be getting so the only way to really know if what your told is true or not, is to check it yourself. That gets hard to do with so much going on.....lol

WhatTheHey

I have to agree, boots on the ground are a lot more reliable than bullshit on the 'net, especially when the source is the Mostly Shit Network 
Just a sign of these chaotic times we live in, whatthehay, so pop over and talk to Elon Musk, he might ferry you up there when his Dragon X goes there...

[space otter]

ahhhh ..but ..they are showing pictures..just like we did..
why does everyone want to lie about being there....sigh

https://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-46760729
Chang'e-4: Chinese rover now exploring Moon
By Paul Rincon
Science editor, BBC News website
8 hours ago


An image of the rover rolling off the lander

A Chinese robotic rover has got its wheels dirty after rolling off its landing craft and onto the lunar soil.

The Chang'e-4 spacecraft touched down on the far side of the Moon at 10:26 Beijing time (02:26 GMT) on Thursday.

Lunar exploration chief Wu Weiren echoed Neil Armstrong's famous quote, telling state media the event marked a "huge stride" for China.

https://www.cnn.com/2019/01/02/health/china-lunar-rover-far-moon-landing-intl/index.html

China lunar rover touches down on far side of the moon, state media announce
By Matt Rivers, Helen Regan and Steven Jiang, CNN

Updated 1:49 AM ET, Fri January 4, 2019

vid at link







ahhhhhhh can't believe anything on line or tv anymore..what will we do

maybe think for ourselves ?   nah  too random

[ArMaP]

The Japanese craft orbited from pole to pole... so with the sun behind it the shadow at 'noon' as the craft crossed the equator should be ZERO and as the craft moved over the pole into the dark the shadows would get very long...  however the shadows showed no change at all as the craft flew over the surface...

It did show change in the shadows.

[ArMaP]

Dumb question coming up...

The Chinese have landed on the dark side of the moon - why are there no stars apparent in their images ?

For the same reason there are no stars in the other photos taken on the Moon's surface, due to the brightness of the scene (bright Sun, no clouds and no noticeable atmosphere to block any light), any small, less bright point of light will be too weak to appear on the photos.
You can try it for yourself during the next full Moon, try to take a photo of the Moon and the stars around it: you will get either a nice Moon and no stars or stars and over exposed (too bright) Moon.