by Mike Wall January 3, 2019 (space.com)
• The list of ‘unexplored’ locales in our solar system just got a little shorter. China’s robotic (uncrewed) Chang’e 4 mission, which launched December 7th, touched down on the floor of the 115-mile-wide Von Kármán Crater Wednesday night (January 2nd), pulling off the “first-ever” soft landing on the lunar far side.
• Chang’e 4 (named after a moon goddess in Chinese mythology) will perform a variety of science work over the coming months to better understand the structure, formation and evolution of Earth’s ‘natural’ satellite. The lander features the Landing Camera, the Terrain Camera, the Low Frequency Spectrometer, and the Lunar Lander Neutrons and Dosimetry, which was provided by Germany. The rover has the Panoramic Camera, the Lunar Penetrating Radar, the Visible and Near-Infrared Imaging Spectrometer, and the Advanced Small Analyzer for Neutrals, which Sweden contributed.
• We already have good imagery of the far side of the Moon from above, thanks to spacecraft such as NASA’s Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter.) Chang’e 4’s observations could help researchers better understand why dark volcanic plains called “maria” cover much of the near side but are nearly absent on the far side. Chang’e 4 also carries a biological experiment which will track how silkworms, potatoes and Arabidopsis plants grow and develop on the lunar surface.
• “Congratulations to China’s Chang’e 4 team for what appears to be a successful landing on the far side of the moon.” said NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine. “This is a first for humanity and an impressive accomplishment!”
• All six of NASA’s crewed Apollo missions to the lunar surface touched down on the near side of the Moon. The far side is a much tougher target for surface exploration because the Moon will block direct communication with any landers or rovers there. To deal with this issue, China launched a relay satellite called Queqiao in May 2018.
• China launched the Chang’e 1 and Chang’e 2 orbiters in 2007 and 2010, respectively, and pulled off a near-side landing with the Chang’e 3 mission in December 2013. (Chang’e 4 was originally designed as a backup to Chang’e 3, so the hardware of the two missions is similar.) China also launched a return capsule on an eight-day trip around the moon in October 2014, known as Chang’e 5T1. China has ambitions for crewed lunar missions, but its human-spaceflight program is focused more on Earth orbit in the short term. The nation aims to have a space station up and running by the early 2020s.
• [Editor’s Note] Of course, this is not the “first-ever” soft landing on the far side of the Moon. The lunar far side is notorious for containing numerous human and alien bases, including the much-expanded Lunar Operations Command base. Thus, it is NASA disinformation that the far side of the Moon is an ‘unexplored’ locale. Beings have been “exploring” the cavernous Moon since it was placed in the Earth’s orbit around a half-a-billion years ago. This event is only a “first for humanity” insofar as NASA and the highly compromised deep state mainstream media are concerned. (see 1:19 minute video of the Chinese mission below)
Humanity just planted its flag on the far side of the moon.
China’s robotic Chang’e 4 mission touched down on the floor of the 115-mile-wide (186 kilometers) Von Kármán Crater Wednesday night (Jan. 2), pulling off the first-ever soft landing on the mysterious lunar far side.
Chang’e 4 will perform a variety of science work over the coming months, potentially helping scientists better understand the structure, formation and evolution of Earth’s natural satellite. But the symbolic pull of the mission will resonate more with the masses: The list of unexplored locales in our solar system just got a little shorter.
The epic touchdown — which took place at 9:26 p.m. EST (0226 GMT and 10:26 a.m. Beijing time on Jan. 3), according to Chinese space officials — followed closely on the heels of two big NASA spaceflight milestones. On Dec. 31, the OSIRIS-REx spacecraft entered orbit around the near-Earth asteroid Bennu, and the New Horizons probe zoomed past the distant object Ultima Thule just after midnight on Jan. 1.
“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!” NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine said via Twitter Wednesday night, after word of the milestone began circulating on social media.
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! pic.twitter.com/JfcBVsjRC8
— Jim Bridenstine (@JimBridenstine) January 3, 2019
1:19 minute video by ‘The Guardian’ of the Chinese probe landing on the far side of the Moon
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