Posted on 12/01/2013 8:03:37 AM PST by Jack Hydrazine
China will tomorrow become the first country in almost 40 years to soft-land a probe on the moon, in a huge step forward for its ambitious space programme.
The nation will become the third in history to launch a lunar probe when the device, named 'Jade Rabbit' after a Chinese folklore character, launches at 5.30pm on Sunday evening, which is 1.30am local time.
The mission forms part of a plan in which China hopes to build a permanent lunar base in order to launch future missions to Mars within the next 15 years.
(Excerpt) Read more at dailymail.co.uk ...
I’ll agree that it would be difficult, expensive and dangerous. Impossible isn’t a word I would use lightly.
Less than an hour to go.
That link doesn’t seem to work either. I would be surprised if they show live coverage.
I’ve looked around a bit and this is the only website that is supposed to be carrying it.
Coming soon: China launches its first moon rover
China will launch its Chang’e 3 lunar probe at 1:30 a.m. on December 2, 2013, for a moon landing mission. It will be the first time for a Chinese spacecraft to soft-land on the surface of an extraterrestrial body. Stay tuned with China.org.cn for live coverage of the event.
http://china.org.cn/china/node_7194823.htm
Good thing they are building a moon base. They’ll just want to go back an hour later.
Muslims own the moon, dontcha know? They worship the moon god.
But will our Chinese overlords be able to control robo-cockroaches in near real time on Earth from the moon?
As China improves their space launch capabilities, their overall rocket technology will also improve and they can manufacturer intercontinental ballistic missiles.
They already have ICBMs pointed at us. Pres. Clinton made sure that instead of having a 1 in 4 chance of a successful flight they now have a 95% or better success rate.
I imagine it would be very difficult. Getting to the moon was all about weight. Getting to Mars with a lander that could carry enough fuel to escape the planet’s gravity for a return trip would presumably mean a larger rocket than the Saturn V. If you aren’t planning to bring back the explorers, I suppose that makes it easier. I’m nobody’s rocket scientist though. :)
The moon has 1/6 the gravity of Earth, but Mars has 38 percent of Earth’s gravity. That seems like a lot of fuel a lander would have to carry to return astronauts to Earth.
The biblke mentions some war to end all wars, where there is wave after wave of millions marching into battle. The only country big enough to do that is china.
They cant march wave after wave across the ocean, i think it means they will finaly have enough of the diaper-heads and send their troops to the middle east to fix the problem once and for all
Oh yes, very difficult, very expensive, but suppose the next generation antibiotics could only be found there? (As an example of a compelling reason I just made up right here on the spot)...
What the moon landings ought to have taught us (and indeed did at the time) was that where there’s a will, there’s a way. A compelling reason to Mars ought to get mankind there in some way.
Unfortunately, we seem to have lost much of that national will since the long, cold slide into liberalism started in the 1960s.
As a retiring executive from a skunk works entity remarked, “If you can dream it, we have already done it”!
I would not be surprised if the reason the space shuttle was scrapped is that we do have the means of space transport that will be kept top secret for years to come.
Can’t connect to media.
any other choices?
Japan makes ready to put a belt of solar panels on the lunar surface...
US gives out free condoms door to door......nice.
Me either. None of the links posted here lead to a live launch video.
This is the only coverage.
http://live.china.org.cn/2013/11/29/coming-soon-china-launches-change-3-lunar-probe/
Here’s what they just posted.
“[1:30]The Long March 3B rocket blasts off from the launch pad.”
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