Chang'e 3 - China Rover Separates From Lander, Now On Moon's Surface

[Elvis Hendrix]

Yes Elvis, your post makes for a good read about some of the thinking in China's space program. I thought the comments relative to NASA's relationship/non-involvement with China was rather interesting, and telling! Of course, "NSA" must now be all over trying to dig out all of the information China is not actually sharing anyway!

Yes Rdunk Presicley,
and there seems to be an awful lot of "downtime" going on dont you think? is the rover sleeping as they suggest? or is it filming as we speak?
whats going on up there.....

[rdunk]

Yes Rdunk Presicley,
and there seems to be an awful lot of "downtime" going on dont you think? is the rover sleeping as they suggest? or is it filming as we speak?
whats going on up there.....

Well, that is anybody's guess. I have looked at 3 different China English news places, and don't really find any new information. Of course, we probably should expect not so much happening the first few days, just because this is all new ground for them, and for this equipment. If we went back to the NASA Rovers operations after landing, they were probably short on doing much for a few days too.

[Somamech]

And a fast load time from Portugal.

Hey thanks mate !

any reccomendations in regards to a good trace route program ?

Edit for spelling and I blame D for making me LOL a tear LOL ( I mean that in a good way too)

[Somamech]

haha, for once, I can get a web site instantaly and in the clear.  Maybe a few milliseconds

Dooyey Man... That made me chuckle !

What an odd world we live in, some western nutter's spy on everyone, other's ban a few websites from the spy nutter's... and other's just kill a general and televise it LOL

LMFAO   

[starwarp2000]

any recommendations in regards to a good trace route program ?

Try this one Soma:

http://www.yougetsignal.com/tools/visual-tracert/

Shove http://www.cnsa.gov.cn in the Remote Address box and viola! 
Try the proxy Host one too

[deuem]

Hey thanks mate !

any reccomendations in regards to a good trace route program ?

Edit for spelling and I blame D for making me LOL a tear LOL ( I mean that in a good way too)

If you are on a windows machine you have a good trace program in MSDOS.  Goto to the Start menu, slide up and pick "run type in cmd. When the msdos window pops up simply type the following     tracert www.thelivingmoon.com  <enter>  The trace Rt "cmd will start up and show you all the ping hops. Easy to do. This is where I see it die before reaching the location.  You can then run goggle or another browser to see where the ping is. Most willl toss up a map and location.  haha, my stop has been removed now from the map and the location is just in the middle of an empty field,  Must be a ghost city.  What ever website you type in after the tracert <space> function will be traced.  Hope that helps, I guess a Mac must have this also?

Deuem

[ArMaP]

Goto to the Start menu, slide up and pick "run type in cmd.

Or press the Windows logo key + "r" to get that "run" window.

[VillageIdiot]

NASA is doing damage control today: http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/astropix.html

[rdunk]

I am not seeing much news coming out today on what is happening with China's rover. I did find this article on the mission that does have several related interesting comments relative to their commitment to their "ambitious space programme". 

One of the more interesting statements, "With the US exploration moribund at best, that opens a window for China to be perceived as the global technology leader.................."! 

http://www.spacedaily.com/reports/Yutu_robotic_rover_begins_lunar_mission_999.html

Yutu robotic rover begins lunar mission

by Staff Writers
Beijing (AFP) Dec 16, 2013

China's Jade Rabbit rover sent back its first pictures from the moon, as officials on Monday lauded the first lunar soft landing in nearly four decades as a step forward for "mankind as a whole".

"Exploration of outer space is an unremitting pursuit of mankind," China's space agency, the State Administration of Science, Technology and Industry for National Defence (SASTIND) said in a statement.

The successful mission reflects "the new glory of China to scale the peaks in world science and technology areas," it said, adding it was committed to exploring and using space "for peaceful purposes".

The space agency also offered to step up cooperation with other countries in the field "to utilise outer space and benefit mankind as a whole."

Images released by China's official news agency Xinhua show the lander, covered in golden foil, standing in the Sinus Iridum or Bay of Rainbows, its solar panels open to generate power.

The silver rover is named Yutu or Jade Rabbit after the pet of Chang'e, the goddess of the moon in Chinese mythology.

The imprints of its tracks in the dark soil of the lunar surface can clearly be seen after it rotated to proudly display a red Chinese flag to the camera.

China first sent an astronaut into space a decade ago and is the third country to complete a lunar rover mission after the United States and the former Soviet Union.

The landing is a key step forward in Beijing's ambitious military-run space programme, which include plans for a permanent orbiting station by 2020 and eventually sending a human to the moon.

The projects are seen as a symbol of China's rising global stature and technological advancement, as well as the Communist Party's success in reversing the fortunes of the once-impoverished nation.

The central government said the mission was "a milestone in the development of China's aerospace industry under the leadership of... Comrade Xi Jinping".

Chinese state-run media have covered the mission extensively, and in an editorial headlined "Great moon mission", the China Daily said its significance "goes far beyond earning the country the name of a technological powerhouse".

The Yutu was deployed at 4:35 am (2035 GMT Saturday), several hours after the Chang'e-3 probe landed on the moon, said the official news agency Xinhua, and the photo session began at about 11:42 pm after the rover moved a few metres away from the lander.

The colour images were transmitted live to the Beijing Aerospace Control Center, where President Xi and Premier Li Keqiang watched the broadcast.

Ma Xingrui, chief commander of China's lunar programme, declared the mission a "complete success" after the photographs showed the lander and rover were working, Xinhua said.

'Made in China' makes it to the moon

The potential to extract the moon's resources has been touted as a key driver behind Beijing's space programme, with the celestial body believed to hold uranium, titanium, and other minerals.

But the phenomenal cost of missions means such projects are not economically viable, experts say.

"China wants to go to the moon for geostrategic reasons and domestic legitimacy," said China space expert Joan Johnson-Freese, a professor of national security affairs at the US Naval War College in Newport, Rhode Island.

"With the US exploration moribund at best, that opens a window for China to be perceived as the global technology leader -- though the US still has more, and more advanced, assets in space."

SASTIND spokesman Wu Zhijian admitted that "despite current progress, China still lags behind space giants like the United States and Russia in many aspects".

"We need to work harder and move faster," he told a briefing.

News of the landing quickly made an impact on China's hugely popular Internet message boards, topping the list of searched items.

"Myth has become reality at this moment," wrote one user Monday. "'Made in China' has made it to the moon."

Before the landing -- the most difficult part of the mission -- the probe slowed down from 1,700 metres (5,610 feet) per second and then hovered for about 20 seconds, using sensors and 3D imaging to identify a flat area.

Thrusters were then deployed 100 metres from the lunar surface to gently guide the craft into position. The landing process started at 9:00 pm on Saturday and lasted for about 12 minutes.

The rover will spend about three months exploring the moon's surface.

It can climb slopes of up to 30 degrees and travel at 200 metres per hour, according to the Shanghai Aerospace Systems Engineering Research Institute.

[stealthyaroura]

Ahah but I've never been caught shoplifting

Far to 'stealthy' bwhaaaa...........sigh

[zorgon]

by Emily Lakdawalla

Emily Lakdawalla was the one who pointed out that the one photo they released on Change'e 1 was a Clementine forgery... When China said  "No no it not fake... just same area...see? there is a new crater"  It was Emily that pointed out the 'new crater' was a stitching overlay error

Here it is... The old NASA image was already on Google moon even LOL



http://globalvoicesonline.org/2007/12/06/china-%E2%80%9Cbeautiful-eyes%E2%80%9D-questioned-the-new-crater-in-chinas-first-moon-picture/

The author (Beautiful Eyes) is fantastic. It's certainly an image stitching error of Chang'e-1 personnel. After a simple shift by Photoshop, the picture taken by Chang'e showed the same lunar surface with Google Moon.




It seems Beautiful Eyes's question to the new crater has evoked a new surge of controversy about the first moon picture photographed by Chang'e probe on China's Internet. However, the mainstream media of China still keep silent on the new question. A report titled by "Ouyang Ziyuan Refuted the suspicion that 'the first image sent back by Chang'e-I copied the picture from US' " is still available in Xinhua's Chinese version website.

"So, in a way, the story has come full circle. The Chang'e image isn't a fake as far as I can tell; my personal opinion, based upon the evidence I was able to dig up, is that the Chinese do have an orbiter at the Moon, and that it is producing really beautiful images that are a great improvement over Clementine. But the one released image is a processed product, and was altered slightly (the seams were blended away) to make it pretty. This alteration made it difficult for a scientist to realize that what appeared to be a new feature was in fact an artifact." - Emily Lakdawalla Planetary Society

Seems I actually finished this page

http://www.thelivingmoon.com/47john_lear/02files/CNSA_Chang_e_1_Lunar_Orbiter.html

[zorgon]

NASA is doing damage control today: http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/astropix.html

OMFG!!!!!

That just made my day....

A Colorful Moon
Image Credit & Copyright: László Francsics
Explanation: The Moon is normally seen in subtle shades of grey or yellow. But small, measurable color differences have been greatly exaggerated to make this telescopic, multicolored, moonscape captured during the Moon's full phase. The different colors are recognized to correspond to real differences in the chemical makeup of the lunar surface. Blue hues reveal titanium rich areas while orange and purple colors show regions relatively poor in titanium and iron. The familiar Sea of Tranquility, or Mare Tranquillitatis, is the blue area in the upper right corner of the frame. White lines radiate across the orange-hued southern lunar highlands from 85 kilometer wide ray crater Tycho at bottom left. Above it, darker rays from crater Copernicus extend into the Sea of Rains (Mare Imbrium) at the upper left. Calibrated by rock samples from the Apollo missions, similar multicolor images from spacecraft have been used to explore the Moon's global surface composition.

[Sgt.Rocknroll]

Minerals.....mmmmm good!

[stealthyaroura]

http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/image/0203/moon_gal_big.jpgYa that's one crazy pic

[deuem]

Well do tell, how is this making your day. It looks like Ted Turner colorized the Moon. The colors are just a palet made from gray samples. What am I missing? Is that your photo they used?