Chang'e-4: China mission primed for landing on Moon's far side

A static lander and rover are expected to be deployed to the surface in the next day, state media reports. The vehicles are carrying a suite of instruments designed to characterise the region's geology, as well as a biological experiment.

In recent days, the Chang'e-4 spacecraft had lowered its orbit in preparation for landing. At the weekend, Chinese state media said the probe had entered an elliptical path around the Moon, bringing the vehicles to within 15km (9 miles) of the lunar surface at its closest point.

Authorities have not specified the exact time of the attempt to touch down in the Von Kármán crater. But a report in the state-run China Daily newspaper suggests Chang'e-4 could begin descending on its thrusters sometime from 2-3 January.

Chang'e-4: China mission primed for landing on Moon's far side

This will be a difficult landing because they have to relay commutations through a satellite in a Halo orbit at the moon.

Chang’e may be able to find information that will help us understand how the moon was formed. It should be able to take the best measurements of terrain and mineral makeup of the moon yet. Due to the fact the Aitken basin is believed to have been formed from an impact early in the moon’s history. The huge impact should of thrown up material from deep inside the moon.

Let hope all goes well.

S&F

Very cool. After watching the video, It still amazes me how shallow all the craters are on the moon. What a resilient moon we have.

I personally prefer the Dark Side of the Moon. It just sounds more relaxing!!

Looking forward to it anyway. Good for China.

I can't contribute to this thread because I have a snowman allergy.
snf anyway! 👍🏻 😁

a reply to: FinallyAwake

Are you sure you are awake

You are safe here, just stay out of the Ultima Thule is a Snowman thread.

It was a surprise how much more rugged cratering and less maria on the far side had when the images first came back before the Apollo Lunar Landing Missions.

From your link:
"...the far side has a thicker, older crust that is pocked with more craters. There are also very few of the "mare" - dark basaltic "seas" created by lava flows - that are evident on the near side.

The Von Kármán crater is located within a much larger feature - the South Pole-Aitken (SPA) Basin - thought to have been formed by a giant impact early in the Moon's history.

"This huge structure is over 2,500km in diameter and 13km deep, one of the largest impact craters in the Solar System and the largest, deepest and oldest basin on the Moon," ..."

Thanks LookingAtMars for keeping us updated.

originally posted by: mikell
I personally prefer the Dark Side of the Moon. It just sounds more relaxing!!

Looking forward to it anyway. Good for China.

♪♫ And if your head explodes with dark forebodings too
I'll see you on the dark side of the moon ♪♫

Sure it's lyrical, but at the time they will be landing land there, it will be lunar daytime on that side.

originally posted by: lunarcartographer
It was a surprise how much more rugged cratering and less maria on the far side had when the images first came back before the Apollo Lunar Landing Missions.

I theorise that it has to do with the Earth-Moon tidal interaction. There's stronger gravitational pull between the sides facing each other than the far sides.

a reply to: LookingAtMars

I find it interesting how shallow the craters are compared to how big they are around. Also how flat the bottoms are.

Yo it landed son!

a reply to: worldstarcountry

From your link:

China's Chang'e-4 probe successfully made the first-ever soft landing on the far side of the moon at 10:26 Thursday morning, marking a breakthrough in human exploration of the universe, according to a statement the China National Space Administration (CNSA) sent to the Global Times on Thursday.

The probe sent back its first images at 11:40 am, about an hour after it landed, revealing the moon's dark side for the first time.

The lunar lander touched down on the moon's far side and sent communication signals between the moon's far side and the Earth for the first time, launching a new chapter of human exploration of the moon, read the statement.

originally posted by: KKLOCO
S&F

Very cool. After watching the video, It still amazes me how shallow all the craters are on the moon. What a resilient moon we have.

There is a crater size threshold above which the inner rim will collapse and the ground rise (central uplift) making them more shallow.

Waiting to See photos of all these bases on the dark side of the moon!

First photo released after the landing.

img.buzzfeed.com...:358;0,0&downsize=700: *&output-format=auto&output-quality=auto

a reply to: LookingAtMars

You can bet your bottom dollar that they aren't there to explore , More like Survey .

originally posted by: Gargoyle91
a reply to: LookingAtMars

You can bet your bottom dollar that they aren't there to explore , More like Survey .

Or even more likely, they are doing this to show the world their technological ability.

originally posted by: KKLOCO
First photo released after the landing.

img.buzzfeed.com...:358;0,0&downsize=700: *&output-format=auto&output-quality=auto

That (again) looks like a photograph of an image being displayed by a video monitor. I say "again" because the first images we got of their last lander were pictures of a monitor.

Here is the first pic of the far side of the moon sent back by China's Chang'e-4 moon lander.


Here is a pic taken from it's descent cam while landing.

This is a pic of Chang'e 4's rover named Yutu 2.


This is a pic of the rovers wheel as it rolls off the lander.