China Prepares Mission to Land Spacecraft on Moon's Far Side

originally posted by: Soylent Green Is People

originally posted by: OneBigMonkeyToo
Here's the Chinese clip compared with the LRO view of the same site...

So the Chinese used the LRO images to build their movie studio?

They avoided copyright claims by rotating it a small amount

a reply to: OneBigMonkeyToo

If anyone is still interested, the Chinese National Space Agency are posting updates on their website:

www.cnsa.gov.cn...

The little rover is currently approaching the crater in front of the lander

mp.weixin.qq.com...
The three five-metre antennas for the radio spectrometer have been deployed, the German LND neutron dosimeter is working, and the lander's terrain camera is sending back images.

The rover will then go to "sleep" until January 10th, to avoid the hottest part of the lunar day.

a reply to: OneBigMonkeyToo

I can't get on the site. Downforeveryoneorjustme says it's up and running whereas I can access any other sites and it's down for me on different browsers.

a reply to: Kandinsky

Weird - I was on it this morning! HAve you done anything to upset China?

Meanwhile I've been looking at other images of the crater, and I think the photo is looking roughly north-north-east towards a small range of hills about 10 km from the landing site. Here's a 3D view using Japanese data.



I'm downloading China's 3D data now to see if that provides better resolution.

a reply to: OneBigMonkeyToo

I've accessed it on the phone and, oh boy, it's a garish little number isn't it?



^^^ Looks like the hands of the dead poking through the ground lol.

a reply to: OneBigMonkeyToo

i await the :

" no stars = fake "

" argument " from stupidity

a reply to: Kandinsky

It is on the dark side....

originally posted by: OneBigMonkeyToo
a reply to: Kandinsky

Weird - I was on it this morning! HAve you done anything to upset China?

Meanwhile I've been looking at other images of the crater, and I think the photo is looking roughly north-north-east towards a small range of hills about 10 km from the landing site. Here's a 3D view using Japanese data.

I'm downloading China's 3D data now to see if that provides better resolution.

These are very low hills, almost non-existant: target.lroc.asu.edu...

People at UMSF think the photo is looking south, towards the crater rim. I think it's looking east/southeast.

a reply to: wildespace

Hmm - I think the UMSF guys might have a point.

The shadow of the lander is to its right, so the sun is off to the left and that does put the view to the south!

I picked those hills purely because they were the nearest things sticking out of the ground, but the whole "these are small and those are far away" thing applies

Time to go grab some more Japanese data to see what we can see!

OK how does this look. The Japanese data gave me an idea where to look, so I had a go at the Chang'e-2 file covering the entire crater. Adjusting the brightness and contrast on both to make the bright spots stand out I found the crater I was looking for and came up with this:



The image is rotated 180 degrees so South is at the top.

The coordinates of the crater I've picked out with the red arrow are -46.8049 178.3877

a reply to: OneBigMonkeyToo

If its on the dark side how would they be able to see ……..

originally posted by: firerescue
a reply to: OneBigMonkeyToo

If its on the dark side how would they be able to see ……..

This is sarcasm, maybe?

If not, then I guess it should be noted that there is no "dark side" of the Moon. There is a side that is always facing Earth (the "near side") and a side that is always facing away (the "far side"), but all sides of the Moon get equal amounts of daylight and night (about 14 Earth days of daylight and 14 Earth days of nighttime).

The Moon at the moment is just coming out of its "New Moon" phase -- which is the phase when the side facing earth is in lunar nighttime, while the side facing away (the far side) is in daylight.

originally posted by: OneBigMonkeyToo
OK how does this look. The Japanese data gave me an idea where to look, so I had a go at the Chang'e-2 file covering the entire crater. Adjusting the brightness and contrast on both to make the bright spots stand out I found the crater I was looking for and came up with this:

The image is rotated 180 degrees so South is at the top.

The coordinates of the crater I've picked out with the red arrow are -46.8049 178.3877

Fantastic work, Sherlock, if you don't mind I'll post that image on UMSF. That will help everybody immensely!

a reply to: wildespace

No problem at all

originally posted by: OneBigMonkeyToo
a reply to: wildespace

No problem at all

Next step - identifying the large-ish crater in the photo, the one Yutu-2 approached.

a reply to: wildespace

Yes - I was really hoping they would release more landing footage. So far the best I can narrow it down to is somewhere within a 1 km square.

Pretty sure it's one of these

a reply to: Soylent Green Is People

This is sarcasm, maybe?

Yes , an attempt to bring a little humor (some would say VERY little) to the usual madness …….

a reply to: dug88

Have to wonder if they will hoax it like the USA did all those decades ago..

originally posted by: purplemer
a reply to: dug88

Have to wonder if they will hoax it like the USA did all those decades ago..

~sigh~

No they won't and no they didn't.

So far we have seen landing and surface images that match up with the observations of other satellites. If you have evidence to the contrary, put it up or take the alternative.