Chang'E: Chinese Lunar Exploration Program

[MargaritaMc]

http://csirouniverseblog.com/2013/12/03 ... -the-moon/

" China National Space Administration (CNSA) successfully launched the Chang’e 3 spacecraft and Yutu rover on the 1st December 2013. Broadcast live on the internet and via some cable news networks, the two-part spacecraft was carried aloft on a Long March 3B rocket, roaring away from the launch pad and into the night sky."

The space craft is named after the Chinese moon goddess and the rover after her jade rabbit...

There are two YouTube videos, one in Chinese and another, longer one, in English.

M

[MargaritaMc]

Update on this mission
The Universe Today

China’s Maiden Moon Rover Mission Chang’e 3 Achieves Lunar Orbit
by KEN KREMER on DECEMBER 7, 2013

Read more:http://www.universetoday.com/107002/chi ... z2nIamVtWD

An excerpt from an article in The Economist
http://www.economist.com/news/science-a ... er-yutu-or

Yutu or me-too?
China’s probe will add a bit to science and a lot to the country’s swagger
Dec 7th 2013 | BEIJING

TWO years ago, in December 2011, China published a blueprint outlining its ambitions in outer space. The launch, on December 2nd, of Chang’e-3—a lunar mission named after a Moon goddess—shows that it remains on track.
Things could still go wrong. In matters of space flight, landing is at least as perilous as taking off—and more so when that landing is on another body, rather than back on Earth. This will be China’s first attempt at such a landing. If it succeeds it will make the China National Space Administration (CNSA) only the second, after Russia’s, to put an unmanned rover on the Moon. It may also help pave the way for the agency to match NASA’s greater technical success of landing people there.

M

[MargaritaMc]

Update. The Jade Rabbit Rover is on the Moon.
This blog from the Australian CSIRO has links to videos

http://csirouniverseblog.com/2013/12/16 ... -the-moon/

[Beyond]

Looks like the left solar panel is just a wee bit droopy. Is it adjustable, i wonder?

[BMAONE23]

I hope that the Wee Rover has a central heating system and long lived batteries. If it is to last 3 months, it will be going into a 2 week-night every 4 weeks

[Chris Peterson]

I hope that the Wee Rover has a central heating system and long lived batteries. If it is to last 3 months, it will be going into a 2 week-night every 4 weeks

Both the lander and the rover have radioisotope heaters to keep their subsystems from getting too cold during the lunar night. However, because they are both solar powered, they will be largely dormant during the nights.

[MargaritaMc]

UNIVERSE TODAY.

Stunning Chang’e-3 Lunar Landing Video gives Astronauts Eye View of Descent & Touchdown
by KEN KREMER on DECEMBER 20, 2013

China accomplished a major technological and scientific feat when the country’s ambitious Chang’e-3 robotic spacecraft successfully soft landed on the Moon on Dec. 14 – on their very first attempt to conduct a landing on an extraterrestrial body.
Along the way the descent imaging camera aboard the Chang’e-3 lander was furiously snapping photos during the last minutes of the computer guided descent.
For a firsthand look at all the thrilling action, be sure to check out the stunning landing video, below, which gives an astronauts eye view of the dramatic descent and touchdown by China’s inaugural lunar lander and rover mission.

Click to play embedded YouTube video.

Read more: http://www.universetoday.com/107369/stu ... z2oQe4cQAj

[Beyond]

Gee, when you click on the video, you can then take almost a 5-minute nap and not miss anything.

[MargaritaMc]

China's moon landing is part of a new space race by emerging nations

While NASA wrestles with budget problems, dozens of countries are aiming to show the world their technological prowess in space exploration.

http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-c ... z2oi9d7eCx

Excerpt from this article

The Los Angeles Times, December 26, 2013
... The lunar triumph offered many Americans their first glimpse at an unfolding new space race involving countries with emerging economies. Space exploration, once the exclusive domain of the world's superpowers, is now being undertaken by dozens of nations aiming to show the world their technological prowess.

Although these countries are still decades behind the United States in space technology, their push into the cosmos comes at a time when NASA has been wrestling with budgetary restraints and struggling to achieve new milestones in space flight.

It prompted Buzz Aldrin, the former astronaut now from Los Angeles and the second man to walk on the moon, to say in an interview that U.S. government officials lack leadership in space exploration.

"They are ignoring the achievements of what we risked our lives for," he said. NASA's funding "is totally inadequate for an endeavor that brings so much inspiration to the American people and educating the next generation."

[MargaritaMc]

Below is a link to the resume report, dated 31st December 2013, from China Network TV and China Central TV on the Chang'e 3 mission. There is quite a nice - SHORT - video which includes the lander and the rover photographing each other. The photograph above is one of these snapshots.

http://english.cntv.cn/program/china24/ ... 1033.shtml

M

[MargaritaMc]

http://www.scotsman.com/news/tiffany-je ... -1-3251210

An article in The Scotsman, "More Nations Still Boldly Going." 30th December 2013

[MargaritaMc]

EarthSky: NASA orbiter spies Chang’e 3 and Yutu rover on the moon

Cool image of the landing site of China’s moon mission, taken by a NASA’s Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter. Also, a word on first science results from Chang’e.

NASA’s Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter’s captured an image of China’s Chang’e 3 lander and Yutu rover on the moon’s surface on December 25, 2013. Also on December 25, an instrument aboard the lunar rover sent back its first science results: a spectrum of lunar soil, or regolith.

To see the images and read more:
http://earthsky.org/space/nasa-orbiter- ... n-the-moon

[MargaritaMc]

Chinese Academy of Sciences, Institute of High Energy Physics:
Chang'e-3 satellite payload APXS obtained its first spectrum of lunar regolith
The Active Particle-induced X-ray Spectrometer (APXS), carried by the Yutu rover of the Chang’e-3 satellite got its first X-ray fluorescence spectrum of lunar regolith around the landing site on December 25, 2013.

An initial analysis indicates that eight major rock-forming elements (Mg, Al, Si, K, Ca, Ti, Cr and Fe) and at least 3 minor elements (Sr, Y and Zr) of the Moon can be identified in this spectrum. Besides, the energy resolution of AXS is estimated to be about 135 @5.9keV, which demonstrates that it is currently one of the best X-ray spectrometer for the planetary exploration in the world.



Read more at http://english.ihep.cas.cn/prs/ns/20131 ... 15114.html

[MargaritaMc]

Emily Lakdawalla has collected some high-quality images from Chang'e 3 at her Planetary Society blog here:
http://www.planetary.org/blogs/emily-la ... ange3.html

[Nitpicker]

The Sun has just risen on Chang'e 3 and Yutu, so they should be waking and warming up from their first fortnight's slumber about now. I hope so.

[MargaritaMc]

The Sun has just risen on Chang'e 3 and Yutu, so they should be waking and warming up from their first fortnight's slumber about now. I hope so.

It looks as though they have woken up safely

Xinhua News Agency: Moon rover, lander wake after lunar night
English.news.cn 2014-01-12 17:16:33

• China's moon rover "Yutu" and the Chang'e-3 lander have just "woken up" after a period of dormancy.
• It has started its rove around the moon surface and scientific missions.
• During the lunar night, the lander and the rover were in a power-off condition.

read more at:

http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/china ... 038491.htm

M

[Nitpicker]

That's good to hear.

Interesting trivia: when I used the term "fortnight" before, I was referring to a period of two weeks. I've only just discovered that it is also an astronomical term for half a synodic month, or 14.77 days. I didn't even know I was being so precise!

[MargaritaMc]

That's good to hear.

Interesting trivia: when I used the term "fortnight" before, I was referring to a period of two weeks. I've only just discovered that it is also an astronomical term for half a synodic month, or 14.77 days. I didn't even know I was being so precise!

I didn't know that either! You see, Nitpicker, in all you post, you are precise and punctilious - even when it is unconscious!

M
PS:
https://www.vocabulary.com/dictionary/punctilious compared with https://www.vocabulary.com/dictionary/nitpick

[MargaritaMc]

China's moon rover performs first lunar probe

http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/china ... 004697.htm

BEIJING, Jan. 14 (Xinhua) -- China's moon rover "Yutu", or Jade Rabbit, completed its first scientific exploration of lunar soil on Tuesday, the Beijing Aerospace Control Center (BACC) said.

The rover used its mechanical arm to survey the lunar soil at 21:45 Beijing Time, following instructions from the control center, according to a BACC statement.

The exploration lasted about half an hour and every operation was precisely performed by the rover, it said.

"Accuracy control of the mechanical arm at a distance of 380,000 kilometers has been realized in the probe, making China's breakthrough in controlling a mechanical arm with high precision on the lunar surface," said Wu Fenglei of the BACC.

The rover completed an arm flexing assessment on Dec. 23, a key test before beginning the soil survey and other work on the surface, said the center.

Yutu will survey the moon's geological structure and surface substances and look for natural resources for three months, while the lander will conduct in-situ exploration at the landing site for one year.

M

[neufer]

[b][color=#0000FF][size=150]Time to take on the Selenites[/size] (hint: they tend to prefer scissors[/color][/b]

---

China's moon rover performs first lunar probe

http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/china ... 004697.htm

BEIJING, Jan. 14 (Xinhua) -- China's moon rover "Yutu", or Jade Rabbit, completed its first scientific exploration of lunar soil on Tuesday, the Beijing Aerospace Control Center (BACC) said.

The rover used its mechanical arm to survey the lunar soil at 21:45 Beijing Time, following instructions from the control center, according to a BACC statement. "Accuracy control of the mechanical arm at a distance of 380,000 kilometers has been realized in the probe, making China's breakthrough in controlling a mechanical arm with high precision on the lunar surface," said Wu Fenglei of the BACC. The rover completed an arm flexing assessment on Dec. 23, a key test before beginning the soil survey and other work on the surface, said the center.

• . http://asterisk.apod.com/viewtopic.php? ... 63#p178463

[MargaritaMc]

Although only tangentially connected with this thread, I thought that it might be of interest:

Chinese experts pick year's top space stories


BEIJING, Jan. 14 (Xinhua) -- Chinese space experts on Tuesday selected a list of last year's top 10 space news stories from across the world and China.

Among the top 10 stories from around the world in 2013, U.S. space agency NASA's Voyager 1 spacecraft took top place. In September, it became the first human-made object to venture into interstellar space.

The number-two story was judged to be the Russian Soyuz spaceship. Carrying three crew members, it docked with the International Space Station at express speed. The whole journey took only six hours from blastoff. It was the second manned Russian spaceship to reach the space station at express speed instead of a journey of two days.

Third place was taken by China's Chang'e-3 lunar probe, which, with the country's first moon rover onboard, landed on the moon in December, marking the first time that China has sent a spacecraft to soft-land on the surface of an extraterrestrial body.

The fourth-placed story is about India's maiden Mars orbiter mission, called Mangalyaan. The orbiter left Earth in December for a 300-day journey to the Red Planet.

Read more at:
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/china ... 044816.htm

M.

[Beyond]

That's good to hear.

Interesting trivia: when I used the term "fortnight" before, I was referring to a period of two weeks. I've only just discovered that it is also an astronomical term for half a synodic month, or 14.77 days. I didn't even know I was being so precise!

I didn't know that either! You see, Nitpicker, in all you post, you are precise and punctilious - even when it is unconscious!

M
PS:
https://www.vocabulary.com/dictionary/punctilious compared with https://www.vocabulary.com/dictionary/nitpick

Now Nitpicker is going to have to change to Punctiliouspicker.

[MargaritaMc]

Emily Lakdawalla has collected some high-quality images from Chang'e 3 at her Planetary Society blog here:
http://www.planetary.org/blogs/emily-la ... ange3.html

Also see http://asterisk.apod.com/viewtopic.php? ... 31#p218007
for a rectification of details about one of the photographs.
M

[Nitpicker]

A recent update from Emily Lakdawalla:
http://www.planetary.org/blogs/emily-la ... nge-3.html

hints/suggests that the main colour camera on the lander did not survive the lunar night. Apparently it wasn't designed to survive and had already completed its scheduled tasks. I find this hard to comprehend -- if I had sent a camera to the Moon, I'd want it operating for as long as possible.

[MargaritaMc]

There's an interesting article here by Ken Kremer in Universe Today.
http://www.universetoday.com/107716/chi ... n-success/