There are some key differences between Chang’e 3 and Chang’e 4. “This mission has lasted for nearly five years, and it increased our knowledge about the moon greatly, however, we don’t have (until Chang’e 4) a mission dedicated to taking precision mesurements of the far side of the moon.” scientists in March at the Lunar and Planetary Science Conference in Texas. “There are plenty of successful missions with successful landings on the near side of the moon, including Chang’e 3 in Mare Imbrium,” said Jun Huang from the Planetary Science Institute at the China University of Geosciences, in a presentation to U.S. The Chang’e 3 rover, named Yutu and designed to drive up to 6 miles (10 kilometers), traveled around 374 feet (114 meters) before losing its mobility due to a hardware failure, according to Chinese scientists.
CHINA MOON ATLAS UPDATE
The rover ceased driving a few weeks after landing, but some of the craft’s instruments continued to function for a couple of years, and the stationary lander - a carrier module that delivered the rover to the lunar surface - was still operating earlier this year, according to an update issued by Chinese officials at the time. No mission has explored the surface of the far side of the moon before, and if successful, Chang’e 4 will be a major first in space exploration, reaching a destination that has long been on the to-do list for NASA and international space scientists.Ĭhang’e 4 uses spare hardware built for China’s Chang’e 3 lunar lander and rover, which arrived at the moon in December 2013 with a touchdown in the Mare Imbrium volcanic basin on the near side of the moon.
CHINA MOON ATLAS SERIES
The three-stage Long March 3B rocket injected the Chang’e 4 spacecraft on a trajectory toward the moon less than a half-hour after liftoff, Chinese officials confirmed.Ĭhang’e 4 is expected to enter lunar orbit Tuesday after a series of course-correction maneuvers, then use braking rockets to descend to the moon’s surface, targeting a landing inside the 110-mile-wide (180-kilometer) Von Karman crater in moon’s South Pole-Aitken basin region in early January.Ĭhinese officials have not released the exact landing date for Chang’e 4, but engineers are expected to target touchdown when the landing site is in sunlight. The video showed the Long March 3B disappearing into the night sky a few minutes after an apparently smooth liftoff from Xichang. Beijing time Saturday - toward the east affixed to the top of a Long March 3B rocket.Ĭhinese state television did not broadcast the launch live, as it did for China’s previous lunar mission launch in December 2013, but spectators near Xichang streamed live video of the middle-of-the-night blastoff online without commentary. EST) Friday from Xichang, an inland spaceport nestled between hills in southwestern China’s Sichuan province.Ĭhang’e 4 climbed into the night sky at Xichang - liftoff occurred at 2:23 a.m. The Chang’e 4 mission - the fourth in China’s main line of lunar explorers - lifted off at 1823:34 GMT (1:23:34 p.m. time) from China’s Xichang space center, kicking off a journey that will culminate in an attempt in early January to touch down on the far side of the moon for the first time. Credit: Chinese Academy of SciencesĪ robotic lander and rover lifted off Friday (U.S. A view of the far side of the moon and the distant Earth, captured by the service module for the Chang’e 5-T1 tech demo mission in 2014. EST (0000 GMT) with additional details on the mission.
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