#Bizwhiznetwork.com Innovation ΛＩ |Technology News
At 9:26 p.m. EST on January 2, 2019 (2:26 a.m. GMT, 10:26 a.m. Beijing Time on January 3), China National Space Administration’s Chang’e-4 lunar probe touched down on the far side of the Moon, becoming the first spacecraft to successfully soft-land on the Moon’s side never visible from Earth.
This close-up photo taken by the Chang’e-4 probe shows the far side of the Moon. Image credit: CNSA.
The Chang’e-4 lunar probe was launched from the Xichang Satellite Launch Center in southwest China on December 8, 2018, and entered orbit around the Moon five days later.
It is the second Chinese spacecraft to land on the only natural satellite of our planet, following the Yutu rover mission in 2013.
“It is human nature to explore the unknown world. And it is what our generation and the next generation are supposed to do,” said Chang’e-4 chief designer Dr. Wu Weiren, of China National Space Administration (CNSA).
The Yutu-2 rover. Image credit: CNSA.
Chang’e-4 landed in Von Karman crater, a 112-mile (180 km) wide crater located within an even larger impact crater known as the South Pole-Aitken Basin.
It then released a rover, named Yutu-2, which rolled out onto the surface down a ramp.
The rover, with a total mass of 140 kg, has a rectangular body 3.6 feet (1.1 m) high, 4.9 feet (1.5 m) long, and 3.3 feet (1 m) wide, but unlike the Yutu rover does not have a robotic arm. It has 6 wheels, two solar panels, and a dish antenna.
The Yutu-2 rover moves across the far side of the Moon. Image credit: CNSA.
“The Chang’e-4 probe, comprised of a robotic lander and a rover, touched down at the preselected landing area at 177.6 degrees east longitude and 45.5 degrees south latitude on the far side of the Moon at 10:26 a.m. Beijing Time,” Chang’e-4 team members said.
“With the communication assistance of the relay satellite Queqiao, the lander sent back the first-ever close-up photograph of the Moon’s far side, opening a new chapter in lunar exploration.”
“The Chang’e-4, carrying eight payloads, will conduct low-frequency radio astronomical observation, survey the terrain and landforms, detect the mineral composition and shallow lunar surface structure and measure the neutron radiation and neutral atoms to study the environment on the far side of the Moon.”
