Posted on 01/14/2019 12:56:57 PM PST by SeekAndFind
China has declared its latest moon mission a success, hailing it as a landmark in its quest to become a strong space power by 2030.
The countrys Change-4 probe, named after a moon goddess of Chinese legend, was the worlds first spacecraft to land on the far side of the moon, which is not visible from the Earth.
The landing on January 3 was the latest leap for Beijing as it tries to catch up with the United States in space.
The Change-4 mission did not stop with the historic landing. Here are five other things Chinas moon probe has been doing in the past week:
1. Taking cosmic selfies
The Change-4 probe is composed of a lander and a rover called Jade Rabbit-2.
After touching down on the moon, the lander and rover took snaps of each other roaming an area known as the Von Kármán Crater, near the moons south pole.
The lander also took the first panorama of the moons far side, showing the rugged lunar surface, the probe itself and the tracks left by the rover.
China has released footage of the landing, created with some 4,700 photos taken by a camera on the bottom of the lander.
Since the bulk of the moon blocks signals from the far side from reaching the Earth, these stunning photos were sent back through the relay satellite Queqiao.
2. Taking a nap
The lunar probe was put down for an afternoon nap on January 4 so it can survive the brutal extremes of temperature on the moon.
It takes about 27 Earth days for the moon to rotate once on its axis one moon day. Without a significant atmosphere, surface temperatures on the moon reach more than 212 degrees Fahrenheit (100 degrees Celsius) under direct sunlight.
The probe woke up from hibernation and went back to work on January 10.
This was an achievement since Chinas first Jade Rabbit rover malfunctioned in 2014 when it was trying to shut down for the bitterly cold lunar night.
3. Listening to the Big Bang
The moons far side is an ideal place to monitor the low-frequency radio waves generated as the first stars and galaxies were formed about 14 billion years ago.
The Change 4 probe has been equipped with three 16-foot-long antennas to pick up those radio waves that cannot be detected on the Earth.
The signals will be beamed back with another set of antennas, developed by a research group in Netherlands, on the relay satellite.
The solar-powered devices were designed to operate for years, even after the Change 4 mission ends. They could help scientists study the afterglow of the Big Bang.
4. Growing potatoes
The probe also took with it a mini-ecosystem composed of six species: cotton, rapeseed, potato, arabidopsis, fruit fly and yeast.
The creatures, dormant during their month-long journey to the moon, started to grow inside an airtight container after the plants were first watered on January 3.
State media said last week that more than 10 photos of the biosphere had been sent to the Earth, although they have not been made public.
5. Studying the solar wind
A device developed by Swedish scientists on the rover will detect neutral atoms, which have equal numbers of protons and electrons. The data will help scientists analyze how the solar wind streams of charged particles from the sun behaves on the moons surface.
Another instrument developed by researchers at Kiel University in Germany will measure the moons radiation levels.
State media said the Chinese team had also discussed with NASA the possibility of observing the Change probe from Americas Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter, which is currently orbiting the moon.
It was a rare exchange between the Chinese and US space programs, since NASA was banned from collaborating with China in 2011.
The Soviets sent Lunik III to photograph the far side of the moon sixty years ago. All the craters & mares already have Russian names.
4. Growing potatoes -- The probe also took with it a mini-ecosystem composed of six species: cotton, rapeseed, potato, arabidopsis, fruit fly and yeast.
Has there ever been a leftist demand for the change of the name of rapeseed?
They used to grow food in Kansas
Now they want to grow it on the moon and eat it raw
I can see the day coming when even your home garden
Is gonna be against the law
(Bob Dylan, Union Sundown)
Not surprisingly, a quick look around YouTube shows that there are dueling delusions from various Barking Moonbats -- one group sez the Chinese probes (this lander, and the earlier one) found proof [sic] of alien structures, bases, craft, mining operations etc; the other group sez, whole thing a hoax because the Earth is flat.
All this hoopla and they still haven’t landed a man on the moon. Maybe they’re holding off until the 50th anniversary of Neil Armstrong’s giant step.
Oh, they’re “out there”, alright. ;^) Nonstop nutjobbery:
Real Proof Chinese Moon Landing is a Hoax! Shocking Discovery
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zCIH1kNZ3oI
China Fakes Space - Chang’e 4 Moon Hoax
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ci4i-HG9U0k
Moon Hoax | Chinese space junk on the far side of the moon
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DbEhAZxATn8
China’s Moon Landing Hoax
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aykIhAHFB4c
maybe this one too?
Unbelievable Claims Of The China Moon Landing
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FxjAyR9y2xA
We have a FReeper who claims (Seriously) that the Earth is flat and that NASA has faked everything! Maybe he will show up on this thread.
Some think it’s faked... they’ve spotted cables and artifacts in the pictures that shouldn’t be there.
https://www.mirror.co.uk/science/chinese-landing-dark-side-moon-13855050
LOL
We are so dumb for thinking he's kooky. He told me.
Been waiting for this good job ...Thanks
For what ever reason, I thought the Moon rotated once on it's axis every 27 days so that one side was always facing the Sun.
Corrected.
It rotates once on its axis every 27(?) days so that one side always faces Earth. If you have (access to) a decent telescope, it can be quite fascinating to look at the Moon every night, as the phase changes. You’ll be looking at the same piece of lunar landscape, but the Sun angle is different every night, and the terminator is in a different place, and different features are highlighted.
A telescope should make it to my wish list one day.
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