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Post by kiwithrottlejockey on Dec 2, 2013 19:17:16 GMT 12
From the Los Angeles Times....China launches rocket with its first moon lander and roverBy BARBARA DEMICK | 11:44AM PST - Sunday, December 01, 2013 The Long March 3B rocket carrying the Chang'e-3 lunar probe is prepared for launch at the Xichang Satellite Launch Center in Xichang in southwest
China's Sichuan province on Sunday, December 1st, readying for launch of the Chang'e-3 lunar probe in the early hours of Monday, December 2nd,
2013, to send the country's first lunar lander and rover named “Jade Rabbit” onto the moon according to state media. — Photo: AP/China Out.BEIJING — In hopes of ensuring that the next man on the moon is Chinese, Beijing launched a rocket carrying a buggy-like vehicle that is expected to roam and explore the moon's surface for three months.
The Long March rocket lifted off from the Xichang Satellite Launch Center in Sichuan Province at 1:30 a.m. Monday, Beijing time (9:30 a.m. PST Sunday), the official Xinhua news agency reported.
If all goes as planned, a landing vehicle and the roving vehicle will touch down on the moon’s surface in about two weeks. It will be the first time that anybody has done a soft landing (one in which the vehicle remains intact) on the moon since 1976, when the Soviet Union landed the Luna 24 probe.
The unmanned rover is a gold-colored vehicle that looks like a dune buggy. It is expected to conduct various scientific experiments such as planting a telescope on the moon’s surface and exploring under the surface of the moon, as well as transmitting photographs back to Earth.
The real purpose, aerospace experts believe, is to practice the techniques to eventually put a man on the moon.
"It comes at a time when America is dithering. Russia has lost the plot a bit. China sees the possibility of leading," said David Whitehouse, a British astrophysicist who has written a book about the moon. "It will upset the Americans because the Americans think they own the moon."
For domestic audiences, the propaganda value is huge and Chinese media are playing it to the hilt. Even the name of the rover, Jade Rabbit, was selected by a public poll. The name refers to the pet rabbit of the Chinese moon goddess, Chang’e — which is the name of the landing vehicle as well. Two previous Chang’e missions orbited the moon in 2007 and 2010. China's Long March rocket carrying the Jade Rabbit rover blasts off from the Xichang Satellite Launch Center in the southwest province of Sichuan.
— Photo: STR/AFP/Getty Image.The rocket launch was broadcast live on Chinese television, although viewership was reduced by the early-morning timing.
"The timing is dictated more by physics than by propaganda," said Morris Jones, an Australian space analyst. He said that while the launch itself was relatively uncomplicated, as is the task of getting into orbit around the moon — something China has already done twice — the landing could be more difficult.
“Landing on the moon is far trickier than simply going into orbit. There is no margin for error," he said.
China’s state news service described the mission as the “most complicated and difficult task in China’s space exploration."
"More than 80% of the technologies adopted in the mission are new," Wu Zhijian, spokesman with State Administration of Science, Technology and Industry for National Defense, told the news service last week.
Only the United States and the Soviet Union have successfully landed on the moon in the past. The U.S. is the only nation to land people on the moon.
Moon exploration enthusiasts are eagerly waiting to learn what the Chinese mission will uncover.
Since the burst of moon exploration in the 1960s and 1970s, particularly the 1969 landing by Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin, the moon’s appeal has waned in favor of the planets and asteroids. In 2010, President Obama axed plans for the Constellation program that was supposed to return Americans to the moon by 2020.
“People wanted to explore the planets. We wanted to see more distant worlds," said Jones. “But even though there was so much exploration of the moon in the 1960s and the 1970s, in recent years, we have found out things about the moon we never suspected when astronauts went there. We have found areas where there is water ice and regions colder than Pluto. There are still many surprises."www.latimes.com/world/worldnow/la-fg-wn-china-rocket-moon-20131201,0,5398170.story
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Post by kiwithrottlejockey on Dec 15, 2013 16:22:48 GMT 12
From the Los Angeles Times....China state media posts images from moon roverBy BARBARA DEMICK | 6:12PM PST - Saturday, December 14, 2013 This December 14th, 2013 photo released by the official New China News Agency shows a picture of the moon surface taken by the on-board camera
of the lunar probe Chang'e-3 on the screen of the Beijing Aerospace Control Center in Beijing. — Photo: Wang Jianmin/Associated Press.BEIJING — Chinese state media early Sunday began transmitting images and video taken by its moon rover, a gold-hued unmanned exploration vehicle named the Jade Rabbit after the story of a mythological Chinese moon goddess who kept a pet rabbit.
The images were sparking excitement among space enthusiasts.
"It is just beautiful to see the surface of the moon up close in a way we haven’t in years. The images we remember of the moon were taken decades ago. These are the first photographs of the Internet age," said Morris Jones, an Australian space analyst based in Sydney.
Maximizing the publicity value of the landing, China is posting video and images on state websites.
After days in orbit around the moon, the lunar probe known as Chang’e-3 touched down on the surface at 9:11 p.m. Saturday, Beijing time, in the Bay of Rainbows, the Beijing Aerospace Control Center reported. The six-wheeled rover then separated from the landing vehicle. At 4:35 a.m. Sunday, the rover touched the moon’s surface, leaving tracks in the lunar soil.
The rover is expected to spend three months on the moon exploring its “geological structure and surface substances and looking for natural resources," the official New China News Agency said.
It is the first time any country has accomplished a soft landing on the moon since the Soviet Union in 1976. The U.S. first landed a spacecraft on the moon in 1969. Since the space race between the United States and Soviet Union in the 1960s and 1970s, lunar research has been largely eclipsed by exploration of planets.
The Chinese government says its moon exploration is purely scientific.
"Compared to the last century's space race between the United States and the former Soviet Union, mankind's current return to the moon is more based on curiosity and exploration of the unknown universe,” deputy engineer Sun Huxian was quoted as telling the news agency Saturday. “China's lunar program is an important component of mankind's activities to explore peaceful use of space."
The Chinese have said they hope to land a man on the moon, perhaps in 10 to 15 years.
Among the experiments the rover will conduct are investigations of the the lunar topsoil. The rover is also supposed to plant a telescope on the surface.
But experts say the mission has as much to do with propaganda, burnishing China’s image as a new superpower; and making sure that the next man on the moon will be Chinese.www.latimes.com/world/worldnow/la-fg-wn-china-unmanned-moon-vehicle-20131214,0,3196299.story
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Post by kiwithrottlejockey on Dec 15, 2013 18:28:01 GMT 12
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Post by Dave Homewood on Dec 15, 2013 19:03:30 GMT 12
Seems to have changed colour since NASA went there.
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Post by kiwithrottlejockey on Dec 15, 2013 19:13:05 GMT 12
Seems to have changed colour since NASA went there. Today's cameras have better colour resolution than the crude cameras used in the late-1960s and 1970s. Or are you one of those conspiracy theorists who reckon the Americans (and now the Chinese) staged their moon landings on a film set?  |
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Post by Dave Homewood on Dec 15, 2013 19:31:00 GMT 12
NASA should have used Kodachrome
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Post by jonesy on Dec 15, 2013 23:03:14 GMT 12
I saw that Chinese film crew out here in the Pilbara the other day! Now it all makes sense...conspiracy theory anyone??  |
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Post by Radialicious on Dec 16, 2013 20:10:30 GMT 12
I'll wager that the atmosphere on the moon is more life sustaining than that back on mainland China right now  |
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Post by kiwithrottlejockey on Dec 17, 2013 19:35:55 GMT 12
From the Los Angeles Times....Success! China's Chang'e 3 lands on moon, snaps pic of Jade RabbitBy AMINA KHAN | 5:44PM PST - Monday, December 16, 2013 CHINA LANDER: This screen grab taken from CCTV footage shows the Chang'e-3 probe lander taken by the Yutu moon rover.
— Photo: CCTV/December 15th, 2013.CHINA's Chang’e 3 spacecraft successfully touched down on the moon and deployed the "Jade Rabbit" rover, and now the pair have now sent their first images back to Earth.
The color photographs, which the rover and lander took of each other, elicited applause from the engineers at Beijing Aerospace Command and Control Center.
The successful touchdown — the first soft landing in nearly four decades — prompted NASA’s planetary science division to congratulate the Chinese space agency on Twitter. CHINA'S YUTU ROVER: This image taken by the on-board camera of the lunar lander Chang'e 3 shows China's first moon rover, Yutu, on the lunar
surface in the area known as the Bay of Rainbows. The rover left deep tracks in the loose lunar soil, state media reported on Sunday.
— Photo: New China News Agency/December 15th, 2013. CHINA YUTU ROVER MODEL: A model of the Yutu lunar rover is displayed at the China International Industry Fair last month in Shanghai.
— Photo: Peter Parks/AFP/Getty Images/November 5th, 2013.“Congratulations, China. Chang'e-3 lands on the moon,” @nasasolarsystem tweeted shortly after the touchdown.
The landing is the first soft landing on the moon since the Soviet Union sent the sample-collecting Luna 24 mission in 1976.
The Chang’e 3 spacecraft arrived in an area called the Bay of Rainbows on Saturday shortly after 5:11 a.m. Pacific time and proceeded to gingerly deploy its rover, Yutu. The Chang’e mission is named after a moon goddess — and Yutu, the "Jade Rabbit", was said to be her long-eared companion. CHANG'E 3 ROCKET LAUNCH: A Long March-3B (CZ-3B) carrier rocket, the vehicle for China's first moon rover mission,
blasts off in Xichang, southwest China. — Photo: European Pressphoto Agency/December 2nd, 2013.The lander’s year-long mission will allow it to be a standing lunar observatory of sorts; The Yutu rover’s mission will involve measuring the depth of the lunar crust, among many other tasks, according to CCTV.
The rover and lander are just part of China’s long-term spacefaring plan. Chang’e 3 follows two other lunar explorers. Chang’e 1, launched in 2007, mapped the moon’s surface, and 2010’s Chang’e 2 blasted off in 2010 to get a closer look at the lunar terrain before leaving to explore other regions of space.
Thus far, these spacecraft designs have essentially come in pairs. Chang’e 2 was a modified version of Chang’e 1; Chang’e 4, with a planned launch in 2015, will likely be a tweaked version of Chang’e 3. Plans are already in the works for a Chang’e 5 spacecraft, set to be China’s first sample return mission.www.latimes.com/science/sciencenow/la-sci-sn-china-chang-e-3-lunar-rover-yutu-moon-20131216,0,5735654.story
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Post by mumbles on Dec 18, 2013 10:37:32 GMT 12
Seems to have changed colour since NASA went there. NASA should have used Kodachrome They used Ektachrome: history.nasa.gov/apollo_photo.htmlThe moon does apparently vary in colour slightly when you are up close and personal to it, however exposure and camera settings will have an effect - the famous "Earthrise" photo from Apollo 8 has tones that are similar to those in the chinese rover images, and it certainly varies in Apollo moonwalk video and film footage, often depending on the camera's orientation to the sun. Another thing I have noticed about lunar photography is that due to the lack of colour in the landscape, it can often be easy to assume a picture is black and white when it actually isn't. Most if not all the Apollo imagery is on line if anyone wants a more detailed look: www.apolloarchive.com/apollo_gallery.html |
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Post by phil82 on Dec 18, 2013 11:00:51 GMT 12
When they come back with samples, will that be a Chinese takeaway?
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Post by 11SQNLDR on Dec 20, 2013 0:03:49 GMT 12
I saw that Chinese film crew out here in the Pilbara the other day! Now it all makes sense...conspiracy theory anyone?? Keep that up & Christmas dinner will be fried rice with a no.42 on the side  |
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