Back to the Moon!

CHINA TO LAUNCH UNMANNED LUNAR LANDER BY YEAR-END

BEIJING (AP) -- China said Wednesday it will launch its first unmanned lunar lander by the end of this year, complete with a radio-controlled rover to transmit images and dig into the moon's surface to test samples.

hosted.ap.org...

All I can say is.... HURRAH! It's been a long time coming. Hopefully they will have colour cameras on the rover or lander.

reply to post by GaryN


I'm really curious as to why we haven't had any "manned" missions in such a long period of time?

You'd think in this day and age of such great technological breakthroughs, that we would have already had multiple manned missions with full crews and different types vehicles mapping all different regions with detail.

Maybe it's just not in the funds? or Maybe we've already been doing things along these lines but just keeping it on the hush hush?

Originally posted by GaryN
CHINA TO LAUNCH UNMANNED LUNAR LANDER BY YEAR-END

BEIJING (AP) -- China said Wednesday it will launch its first unmanned lunar lander by the end of this year, complete with a radio-controlled rover to transmit images and dig into the moon's surface to test samples.

hosted.ap.org...

I'll believe it when I see it.


ETA:

reply to post by GaryN


First the Chinese...then the CANADIANS!

Candian on Moon Possible Under Latest Space Plan

Canada is among the 14 space agencies participating in the International Space Exploration Coordination Group, which first started developing the strategy in 2007. The first roadmap was released in 2011 and the latest update was made public last week.

An early phase of the plan would put a new space station into orbit around the moon, and use it as a staging point to ferry astronauts back and forth.

Jean-Claude Piedboeuf, the director of space-exploration development at the Canadian Space Agency, says there's an agreement among space agencies that returning to the moon is a stepping stone to a more distant target: Mars.

The CSA official suggested astronauts could again be moon-bound in about 15 years. It would be the first human visit to the shining orb since 1972, when NASA astronauts Eugene Cernan and Harrison Schmidt spent 75 hours there.

This time, there could well be Canadian visitors.

If Canadians can survive the harsh climate of the great white north, Canadians can survive on the moon no problem.

reply to post by Coup_Detat_Cam


I don't believe that there is anything of interest on the moon to my friends up north of the border. For one thing, you can't play ice hockey on the lunar surface. Also, figuring in the transport cost, a single Molson would cost over $50,000. Never have met a Canuck that could only drink one beer while watching hockey. Finally, no real maple syrup. What kind of neanderthal eats waffles without real maple syrup?

Well, Who ever is next to go back, be it Russian, Canadian, USA or whoever, they may just find.

More than likely owned by one of my wife family members

We all need to go back, if not to at lest as a test bed for other space projects.

It looks like we're falling behind but what's really going on is more subtle. See, we've already been there and done that and we've taken those lessons home and they've been cooking for 40 years.

The other issue is that because someone has already been to the moon it makes it a lot easier for somebody else - like China - to go back. Being the first to do it is a lot more challenging.

There needs to be economic reasons for going back. China is doing these things just to show the world it's a superpower. It hasn't done them yet. For us it's a different thing because we have.

So it's a good thing we're getting private companies involved in space. They will carry on the next generation eventually, getting us well beyond a public relations campaign and into a true space age.

The US is still well ahead of anybody else. I think this will become clearer. However, China is a large thriving country and they're going to put on a big show I believe. Ultimately, the space age is going to be international and everyone is going to be involved, not just the superpowers.

I really like this:

Don't forget the US will be launching LADEE Mission to the Moon on Sept 06. This night launch will provide spectacular eye-candy for those on east coast if weather is favorable.

They won't do that. Or if they do they won't show the world their findings, as I'm sure it would disprove the moonlandings. Everything would look different I bet than the fake videos the world was shown.

reply to post by spartacus699


Why would China be afraid to disprove the moon landings? If anything, it would give them a chance to be truly the first people on the Moon. On the other hand, their missions might prove once and for all that the Apollo landings happened.

Either way, China would love to show their national achievements. They have shown their manned spaceflight and their space station. I'm sure they would be proud to show their achievements on the Moon.

Originally posted by wildespace
reply to post by spartacus699

 

Why would China be afraid to disprove the moon landings? If anything, it would give them a chance to be truly the first people on the Moon. On the other hand, their missions might prove once and for all that the Apollo landings happened.

Either way, China would love to show their national achievements. They have shown their manned spaceflight and their space station. I'm sure they would be proud to show their achievements on the Moon.

True, Very True.
If the United States did not land on the Moon, China would Be VERY Happy to Tell the World.
Because what is really going to happen, once China set foot on the Moon, they won't want to leave or let go.
They'll show pictures of our old equipment left behind and their new equipment being assembled for a permanent base.

reply to post by Coup_Detat_Cam

If Canadians can survive the harsh climate of the great white north, Canadians can survive on the moon no problem.

Lets hope theres igloos on the moon...

otherwise we have no chance..

Originally posted by guohua

Originally posted by wildespace
reply to post by spartacus699

 

Why would China be afraid to disprove the moon landings? If anything, it would give them a chance to be truly the first people on the Moon. On the other hand, their missions might prove once and for all that the Apollo landings happened.

Either way, China would love to show their national achievements. They have shown their manned spaceflight and their space station. I'm sure they would be proud to show their achievements on the Moon.

True, Very True.

If the United States did not land on the Moon, China would Be VERY Happy to Tell the World.
Because what is really going to happen, once China set foot on the Moon, they won't want to leave or let go.
They'll show pictures of our old equipment left behind and their new equipment being assembled for a permanent base.

They don't go out of there way to damage diplimatic relations. They might secretly want to go there and find out exactly what's going on (perhaps if they've been somehow kept in the dark and don't already know) but with all the trade they do with the US they'd never reveal what they found. I have my doubts that they'd even show off the view of what they're cameras captured.

Originally posted by wildespace
All I can say is.... HURRAH! It's been a long time coming. Hopefully they will have colour cameras on the rover or lander.

Yes, and hopefully the cameras will have a better resolution than the Mars Curiosity has (2mp only)

reply to post by jonnywhite


Great video jonnywhite

But did they have to make it look like Gort?

reply to post by spartacus699


With the future possibilities for Moon exploration, sooner or later the truth will out. I don't see any reason why China would be particularly reluctant in that regard. It's not like the USA went "pssst! don't tell anyone we didn't land on the Moon, otherwise we'll stop trading with you." If you believe they did that, then you live in your own fancy world of conspiracy theories.

Originally posted by MysterX

Originally posted by wildespace
All I can say is.... HURRAH! It's been a long time coming. Hopefully they will have colour cameras on the rover or lander.

Yes, and hopefully the cameras will have a better resolution than the Mars Curiosity has (2mp only)

Yet another member that doesn't understand that pixel SIZE is more important than quantity at lower light levels.

Also when the craft was being designed they were familiar with that ccd chip and it's performance an it has good optics in front of it which is every bit important in imaging terms!!!

The lander is equipped with an astronomical telescope, comprising an extreme ultraviolet camera. It will be world's first lunar-based astronomical observatory, making long-term continuous observations of important celestial bodies to study their light variation and low galactic latitude.

What, no visible light telescope? No pretty, colourful pictures of the Milky Way? Oh, of course, we can see that from Earth, don't need to see it from the Moon do we?

reply to post by GaryN


That's right, they decided to spend their money on more worthy goals, scientifically speaking.

Actually, I think something got lost in translation in that Wikipedia article, and what the Chinese article really said was that the telescope will also image the galactic plane. So you will get your pictures of the Milky Way, except in extreme UV.

Use Google Translate and paste this link: news.xinhuanet.com...
"long-term continuous monitoring of the galactic band sky survey"