Thread: Chang'e-4 landed on the Dark Side of the Moon

Chang'e-4 landing: Chinese spacecraft sends first ever pictures back to Earth from far side of moon


A Chinese spacecraft has sent the first ever pictures back to Earth from the far side of the moon, after also becoming the first probe to make a successful landing there.
The Chang'e-4 lunar probe touched down on Thursday, China's space agency said, hailing the event as a historic first in the country's space programme.
The spacecraft, launched in December, made the "soft landing" at 2.26am GMT and transmitted the first-ever "close range" image of the dark side of the moon, the China National Space Administration said.

The moon is tidally locked to Earth, rotating at the same rate as it orbits our planet, so its far side - or "dark side" - is never visible to us. Previous spacecraft have seen the far side, but none have landed on it.
The landing "lifted the mysterious veil" of the far side of the moon and "opened a new chapter in human lunar exploration", the agency said in a statement on its website, which included a wide-angle colour picture of a crater from the moon's surface.




The probe, which has a lander and a rover, touched down at a targeted area near the moon's south pole in the Von Karman Crater after entering the moon's orbit in mid-December.
The tasks of the Chang'e-4 include astronomical observation, surveying the moon's terrain, landform and mineral makeup, and measuring the neutron radiation and neutral atoms to study the environment of its far side.
In a tweet, Nasa's administrator, Jim Bridenstine, praised China for its "impressive accomplishment".




"Congratulations to China’s Chang’e-4 team for what appears to be a successful landing on the far side of the Moon. This is a first for humanity and an impressive accomplishment!"
The landing is a milestone for China in its race to catch up with Russia and the US and become a major space power by 2030. Beijing plans to launch construction of its own manned space station next year.

While China has insisted its ambitions are purely peaceful, the US Defense Department has accused it of pursuing activities aiming to prevent other nations from using space-based assets during a crisis.

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/w...-a8708951.html

BBC just been talking about a chinese media blackout about this prior to the landing, claiming they were scared of failure. No, bbc goon, they didn't know what they were going to find there. The probe will be taken out soon as soon as it gets near to the bases there

Perhaps looking for traces of Apollo?

All done in a studio, with lights.

That looks like the Gobi desert to me, clearly nothing akin to the Nevada desert...

Originally Posted by Wonton

All done in a studio, with lights.

Another Pink Floyd reunion?

Originally Posted by pseudolus

The moon actually has a "FAR" side, not a dark side.

For whatever reason it is very common among people working in space research or interested in space to use "dark side". Though factually "far side" would be correct. The uninformed would not know this.

Why is it reddish in hue?

I think they have secretly gone to Mars and the moon story is a characteristcally sneaky Chinese cover story.

They chose the darkside so nobody could check whether they were really there or not.

The sun also shnes to the east of Sukhumwit road so it should really be called the farside of Pattaya.

Originally Posted by Looper

Why is it reddish in hue?

Poor white balance on the first pic. Look how the white parts of the lander and rover look reddish too.

Originally Posted by harrybarracuda

I'm with Looper, they are recycling old Mars pics.

Are you serious? Radio amateurs around the world have tracked the orbiter. This is 100% real. You don't have to like the Chinese to accept the facts.

Originally Posted by Takeovers

Are you serious?

Originally Posted by Takeovers

For whatever reason it is very common among people working in space research or interested in space to use "dark side". Though factually "far side" would be correct. The uninformed would not know this.

Originally Posted by Loy Toy

Another Pink Floyd reunion?

Yepp, a rendezvous with Syd.