A CHINESE spacecraft has landed on the dark side of the moon in a world first mission that marks a big step in Beijing’s plans to build a manned lunar base.
Chang’e-4, a space probe loaded with over a ton of scientific equipment, made the historic landing on Thursday morning, Chinese state media said.
It comes as China looks to position itself as a leading space power.
A Tweet read: “China’s Chang’e 4 probe landed on the moon’s far side at 10:26am BJT today.”
Chang’e-4’s target is a crater nestled in the South Pole-Aitken basin, one of the biggest impact basins in the solar system.
At around 1,600 miles across and eight miles deep, it is the largest, oldest, and deepest basin on the moon.
There was some confusion as China announced the landing at 1am before promptly deleting the announcement.
Chang’e-4’s successful landing was confirmed at 2.20pm local time, (4.15am GMT).
The probe consists of a lander and a small six-wheeled rover that will explore the moon’s surface.
They will track radiation levels and gather soil samples ahead of plans for a lunar base, which China hopes to assemble in the 2030s.
Some crackpot conspiracy theorists claim the mission will run into an advanced alien civilisation on the mysterious dark side of the moon.
A canister strapped to Chang’e-4’s lander is filled with seeds and silkworm eggs – part of an attempt to grow plants on the moon.
The setup could be used by astronauts to sprout food on future lunar outposts.
If successful, the Chang’e-4 mission will mark the first time a probe has ever touched down on the dark side of the moon, a region that largely remains a mystery to scientists.
“Going to the far side of the moon is a major technological feather in the cap for China,” Katherine Joy, a lunar scientist at the University of Manchester, told the Guardian.
“The Chinese lunar space programme is hugely ambitious.”
The moon’s dark side permanently faces away from Earth because the rocky world is close enough to remain locked in position by our planet’s gravitational field.
Scientists think the dark side’s Von Kármán impact crater, where Chang’e-4 will land, contains rocks that wouldn’t normally be found on the surface of the moon.
As the mission’s lander and rover will always face away from Earth, mission control will communicate with them via a relay satellite that is orbiting the moon.
The lander is loaded with radiation-detecting instruments called low-frequency radio spectrometers.
These will scan radioactive particles in the atmosphere to learn more about the universe’s ‘dark age’ – the first few hundred million years following the Big Bang.
TOP STORIES IN SCIENCE
The moon’s dark side is ideal for human settlements because it houses water in the form of ice, and German radiation detectors strapped to the lander will test how dangerous it would be for people to live there long-term.
The rover, which is powered by solar panels and topped with a panoramic camera, will analyse the chemical make-up of lunar rock by measuring visible and infrared light.
The Swedish-designed equipment will help scientists better understand the interaction of radiation from the sun, also known as solar wind, with the moon’s surface.
We pay for your stories! Do you have a story for The Sun Online news team? Email us at tips@the-sun.co.uk or call 0207 782 4368 . We pay for videos too. Click here to upload yours.
Link
https://textbacklinkexchanges.com/change-4-china-lands-on-dark-side-of-moon-in-space-world-first-as-craft-descends-into-mystery-8-mile-deep-crater/
News Pictures Chang’e 4 – China lands on ‘dark side of Moon’ in space world-first as craft descends into mystery 8 mile deep crater
You don’t have to pack away your bikini just because you’re the wrong side of 20. These body-beautiful stars reveal their secrets to staying in shape and prove you can smoulder in a two-piece, whatever your age. Read on and be bikini inspired!
TEENS
Hayden Panettiere
Size: 8
Age: 18
Height: 5ft 1in
Weight: 8st
To achieve her kick-ass figure, Hayden – who plays cheerleader Claire Bennet in Heroes – follows the ‘quartering’ rule. She eats only a quarter of the food on her plate, then waits 20 minutes before deciding whether she needs to eat again.
Hayden says: “I don’t have a model’s body, but I’m not one of those crazy girls who thinks that they’re fat. I’m OK with what I have.”
Nicollette says: “I don’t like diets – I see it, I eat it! I believe in eating healthily with lots of protein, vegetables and carbs to give you energy.”
kim cattrall
Size: 10-12
Age: 52
Height: 5ft 8in
Weight: 9st 4lb
SATC star Kim swears by gym sessions with Russian kettle bells (traditional cast-iron weights) and the South Beach Diet to give her the body she wants. To avoid overeating, Kim has a radical diet trick – squirting lemon juice on her leftovers – so she won’t carry on picking.
Kim says: “I am no super-thin Hollywood actress. I am built for men who like women to look like women.”
https://www.thesun.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2019/01/KH-COMPOSITE-GRAPHIC-CHINA-MISSION-TO-THE-MOON.jpg?strip=all&w=960
Комментариев нет:
Отправить комментарий