{"id":18243,"date":"2018-12-08T01:47:07","date_gmt":"2018-12-07T17:47:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp-productionenv-bjg9h2g2bgg5b8aa.southeastasia-01.azurewebsites.net\/news\/china-launches-change-4-probe-destined-for-landing-and-roving-on-moons-far-side\/"},"modified":"2018-12-08T01:47:07","modified_gmt":"2018-12-07T17:47:07","slug":"china-launches-change-4-probe-destined-for-landing-and-roving-on-moons-far-side","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/news\/china-launches-change-4-probe-destined-for-landing-and-roving-on-moons-far-side\/","title":{"rendered":"China launches Chang\u2019e-4 probe, destined for landing and roving on moon\u2019s far side"},"content":{"rendered":"<figure id=\"attachment_467031\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-467031\" style=\"width: 630px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full-width wp-image-467031\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn.geekwire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/181207-casc-630x363.jpg\" alt=\"Chang'e-4 launch\" width=\"630\" height=\"363\" srcset=\"https:\/\/cdn.geekwire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/181207-casc-630x363.jpg 630w, https:\/\/cdn.geekwire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/181207-casc-768x443.jpg 768w, https:\/\/cdn.geekwire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/181207-casc-1260x726.jpg 1260w, https:\/\/cdn.geekwire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/181207-casc.jpg 1665w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 630px) 100vw, 630px\"><figcaption data-nosnippet=\"\" id=\"caption-attachment-467031\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">A Chinese Long March 3B rocket lifts off from Xichang Satellite Launch Center, sending the Chang\u2019e-4 probe into space. (CASC via Weibo)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>China\u2019s space effort launched its most ambitious robotic lunar mission to date, taking aim at a crater near the south pole on the moon\u2019s far side.<\/p>\n<p>The Chang\u2019e-4 combination lander and rover were sent into space atop a Long March 3B rocket at 2:22 a.m. local time Saturday (10:22 a.m. PT Friday) from the Xichang Satellite Launch Center in China\u2019s Sichuan Province, according to Sina Tech and other Chinese sources.<\/p>\n<p>Chang\u2019e-4\u2019s flight plan calls for the probe to trace a looping series of orbits for 26 days or so, eventually putting it into position for a landing in Von Karman Crater, part of the South Pole-Aitken Basin.<\/p>\n<p>It\u2019s the type of crater that just might have frozen water mixed in with soil, potentially providing resources for lunar settlement.<\/p>\n<p>Analyzing the crater\u2019s surface composition is one of the primary tasks for the mission, part of a series carried out by a succession of Chang\u2019e probes. \u201cChang\u2019e\u201d takes its name from the goddess of the moon in Chinese mythology.<\/p>\n<p><iframe id=\"twitter-widget-0\" scrolling=\"no\" frameborder=\"0\" allowtransparency=\"true\" allowfullscreen=\"true\" class=\"\" style=\"position: absolute; visibility: hidden; width: 0px; height: 0px; display: block; flex-grow: 1;\" title=\"X Post\" src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/embed\/Tweet.html?creatorScreenName=b0yle&amp;dnt=true&amp;embedId=twitter-widget-0&amp;features=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%3D%3D&amp;frame=false&amp;hideCard=false&amp;hideThread=false&amp;id=1071116164133195779&amp;lang=en&amp;origin=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.geekwire.com%2F2018%2Fchina-launches-change-4-probe-destined-landing-roving-moons-far-side%2F&amp;sessionId=3edbeb94d74444180d2e4cdd1ce2d19c07c748fd&amp;siteScreenName=geekwire&amp;theme=light&amp;widgetsVersion=6a3ad42b224df%3A1778106238597&amp;width=550px\" data-tweet-id=\"1071116164133195779\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\" data-twitter-extracted-i1782802075487129947=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">While we wait for confirmation (or otherwise\u2026) of launch and TLI success, here&#8217;s a closer look at the launch of Chang&#8217;e-4. Source: https:\/\/t.co\/7JfLUM65IK pic.twitter.com\/4Vtg8LQEK4<\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Andrew Jones (@AJ_FI) December 7, 2018<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p><script async=\"\" src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p>Chang\u2019e-4 comes five years after China sent Chang\u2019e-3 lander to the moon\u2019s far side. That probe, similar in design to Change-4, deployed a lunar rover (nicknamed Yutu, or \u201cJade Rabbit\u201d) for a months-long survey.<\/p>\n<p>This May, China sent a satellite called Queqiao (\u201cMagpie Bridge\u201d) to a gravitational balance point about 33,000 miles beyond the moon to relay data between Earth and Chang\u2019e-4\u2019s landing site.<\/p>\n<p>In addition to studying Von Karman Crater\u2019s surface with spectrometers and ground-penetrating radar, Chang\u2019e-4 will measure the solar wind, make low-frequency radio astronomy observations and monitor cosmic rays from a side of the moon that doesn\u2019t experience earthly interference. A couple of the probe\u2019s scientific instruments were contributed by teams from Germany and Sweden.<\/p>\n<p>Months before launch, China\u2019s Xinhua news agency reported that Chang\u2019e-4 might also be carrying a \u201clunar mini-biosphere\u201d containing potato seeds and mustard seeds as well as silkworm eggs.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_466990\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-466990\" style=\"width: 630px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full-width wp-image-466990\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn.geekwire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/181207-rover-630x447.jpg\" alt=\"Chang'e-4 rover\" width=\"630\" height=\"447\" srcset=\"https:\/\/cdn.geekwire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/181207-rover-630x447.jpg 630w, https:\/\/cdn.geekwire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/181207-rover-768x545.jpg 768w, https:\/\/cdn.geekwire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/181207-rover-1260x894.jpg 1260w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 630px) 100vw, 630px\"><figcaption data-nosnippet=\"\" id=\"caption-attachment-466990\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">An artist\u2019s conception shows the Chang\u2019e-4 rover on the lunar surface. (China Daily \/ Xinhua Illustration)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Because the moon is tidally locked with Earth, it presents only one side to Earth\u2019s view, with the other side hidden behind. Although the far side is hidden from our sight, it\u2019s not exactly luna incognita: The territory has been mapped extensively by a host of robotic missions, plus the crewed Apollo missions.<\/p>\n<p>Chang\u2019e-4 would mark the first soft landing on the moon\u2019s far side, following crash landings of probes such as NASA\u2019s twin Grail spacecraft.<\/p>\n<p>There\u2019s more to come: Next year, China is due to launch its Chang\u2019e-5 mission to collect a 4.4-pound (2-kilogram) sample of lunar soil from the Oceanus Procellarum region and return it to Earth.<\/p>\n<p>Chinese space officials have discussed sending crewed missions to the moon in the 2020s or 2030s, and potentially building an outpost near the lunar south pole.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A Chinese Long March 3B rocket lifts off from Xichang Satellite Launch Center, sending the Chang\u2019e-4 probe into space. (CASC via Weibo) China\u2019s space effort launched its most ambitious robotic lunar mission to date, taking aim at a crater near the south pole on the moon\u2019s far side. The Chang\u2019e-4 combination lander and rover were [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[2404,135,625],"class_list":["post-18243","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news","tag-change-4","tag-china","tag-moon"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18243"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=18243"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18243\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=18243"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=18243"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=18243"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}