Chinese unmanned spacecraft lands on moon

[Buster's Uncle]

Chinese unmanned spacecraft lands on moon
Reuters
By Pete Sweeney  2 hours ago






SHANGHAI (Reuters) - China landed an unmanned spacecraft on the moon on Saturday, state media reported, in the first such "soft-landing" since 1976, joining the United States and the former Soviet Union in managing to accomplish such a feat.

The Chang'e 3, a probe named after a lunar goddess in traditional Chinese mythology, is carrying the solar-powered Yutu, or Jade Rabbit buggy, which will dig and conduct geological surveys.

China has been increasingly ambitious in developing its space programs, for military, commercial and scientific purposes.

It has moved in lock step with its emergence as a major global economic and political power.

"The dream for lunar exploration once again lights up the China Dream," Xinhua news agency said in a commentary.



The Long March-3B rocket carrying the Chang'e-3 lunar probe blasts off from the launch pad at Xichang Satellite Launch Center


In its most recent manned space mission in June, three astronauts spent 15 days in orbit and docked with an experimental space laboratory, part of Beijing's quest to build a working space station by 2020.

The official Xinhua news service reported that the spacecraft had touched down in the Sinus Iridum, or the Bay of Rainbows, after hovering over the surface for several minutes seeking an appropriate place to land.

A soft landing does not damage the craft and the equipment it carries. In 2007, China put another lunar probe in orbit around the moon, which then executed a controlled crash on to its surface.

China Central Television (CCTV) broadcast images of the probe's location on Saturday and a computer generated image of the probe on the surface of the moon on its website. The probe and the rover are expected to photograph each other tomorrow.

The Bay of Rainbows was selected because it has yet to be studied, has ample sunlight and is convenient for remote communications with Earth, Xinhua said.



The Long March 3B rocket carrying the Chang'e-3 lunar probe is seen docked at the launch pad at the Xichang Satellite Launch Center in Liangshan


The rover will be remotely controlled by Chinese control centers with support from a network of tracking and transmission stations around the world operated by the European Space Agency (ESA).

For more than a decade, China has been modernizing its economy and developing in areas long dominated by the West particularly the United States.

The moon landing will be seen as a demonstration of China's ability to engage in sophisticated space operations with dual use potential.

China is also developing its own satellite system to rival the U.S. GPS system and has sold satellites to other countries.

The landing will also be a point of national pride in the country, which is undergoing difficult economic transitions.


http://news.yahoo.com/chinese-lunar-probe-lands-moon-report-132351891.html

[Geo]

Weird. It didn't plant a flag?

[Buster's Uncle]

China lands first probe on moon
By Jeffry Bartash   Dec. 14, 2013, 12:05 p.m. EST



WASHINGTON (MarketWatch) - The Chinese government on Saturday reported that it landed an unmanned space probe on the moon, joining the U.S. and Russia as the only nations to accomplish the feat. The probe, called Chang'e-3, took 13 days to travel from the earth. As part of the mission, the probe is expected to launch a rover named Jade Rabbit to explore the moon and take soil samples. China also plans more landings in the future. The former Soviet Union was the last country to conduct a moon landing in 1976, at a time when China was still an economic backwater and not the juggernaut that it's become. 


http://www.marketwatch.com/story/china-lands-first-probe-on-moon-2013-12-14?siteid=yhoof2

[Buster's Uncle]

Lands On The Moon: Historic Robotic Lunar Landing Includes 1st Chinese Rover
SPACE.com
By Leonard David, SPACE.com's Space Insider Columnist  8 hours ago






China has landed its first robotic lander on the moon, a historic lunar arrival that makes the country only the third nation to make a soft-landing on Earth's celestial neighbor.

China's Chang'e 3 moon lander and its Yutu rover touched down on the moon Saturday (Dec. 14) at about 8:11 a.m. EST (1311 GMT), though it was late Saturday night local time at the mission's control center in Beijing during the landing. It is the first soft-landing on the moon by any spacecraft in 37 years.

Chang'e 3 launched toward the moon on Dec. 2 Beijing time to begin its two-week trek to the lunar surface. The spacecraft arrived in lunar orbit about five days after launch, and then began preparing for landing. A camera on the spacecraft snapped 59 photos of the moon during the descent, including a view straight from the lunar surface just after touchdown.

Following a lengthy engine burn Saturday, the mooncraft lowered itself to the lunar surface on autopilot, making what appeared to be a smooth touchdown on the Bay of Rainbows in the moon's northern hemisphere. The descent from lunar orbit to the moon's surface took about 12 minutes.

Shortly after landing, Chang'e 3 deployed its vital solar arrays, which were folded for the landing, to begin generating power for its lunar surface mission. The lander is now expected to unleash the instrument-laden Yutu rover, built to trundle across the dusty, time-weathered terrain for months.

China's Chang'e 3 lunar arrival is the first soft-landing on the moon since 1976. Not since the former Soviet Union's Luna 24 sample-return mission has a spacecraft made a controlled, soft touchdown on the lunar surface. The last soft-landing on the moon by NASA was in 1972 during the Apollo 17 manned lunar landing mission.



China's Yutu moon rover, part of the Chang'e 3 lunar landing mission launching in December 2013.


The Yutu rover (its name means "Jade Rabbit") is named after the pet rabbit that travels with the goddess Chang'e to the moon in Chinese legends. Chang'e 3 is China's third lunar mission to carry the name, but the first to soft-land on the moon. The first two Chinese lunar missions were built to orbit the moon. 

The six-wheeled Yutu rover is a solar-powered vehicle equipped with cameras, a robotic arm tipped with science gear and a radar system attached to its underbelly.

The stationary lander itself also is geared to observe Earth, astronomically eye other celestial objects from the moon, as well as watch the Yutu rover wheel across the lunar terrain.

Visit SPACE.com for the latest news on China's space missions and the Chang'e 3 moon landing.





http://news.yahoo.com/china-lands-moon-historic-robotic-lunar-landing-includes-135813998.html

[Buster's Uncle]

China's first lunar rover lands on moon
AFP
By Neil Connor  1 hour ago



This screen grab taken from CCTV live broadcasting footage shows an image of China's first lunar rover transmitted back to the control centre in Beijing, after it landed on the moon on December 14, 2013



Beijing (AFP) - China on Saturday carried out the first soft landing on the moon since 1976, joining the United States and former Soviet Union in accomplishing the feat, which marks a major step for Beijing's ambitious space programme.

The emerging superpower is also set to become the third country to complete a lunar rover mission when it deploys its Yutu, or Jade Rabbit vehicle.

Scientists burst into applause as a computer-generated image representing the spacecraft, named Chang'e-3, was seen landing on the moon's surface via screens at a Beijing control centre, state broadcaster Chinese Central Television (CCTV) showed.

"Chang'e-3 has successfully carried out a soft-landing on the moon. This makes China the world's third nation to achieve a lunar soft landing," said the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) in an online post on the mission's official page on Sina Weibo, a Chinese Twitter equivalent.

The landing came 12 days after blast-off and was the first of its kind since the former Soviet Union's mission nearly four decades ago.

Many Chinese took to the country's Internet message boards expressing joy at the news, which state news agency Xinhua described as a "historic breakthrough" in an emotional editorial.



This screen grab taken from CCTV live broadcasting footage shows scientists celebrating at the control centre in Beijing after China's first lunar rover landed on the moon on December 14, 2013


"Space exploration is the cause of mankind, not just 'the patent' of a certain country," Xinhua's commentary said.

"China will share the achievements of its lunar exploration with the whole world and use them to benefit humanity."

The editorial also cited President Xi Jinping's slogan for Chinese advancement, saying that the lunar bid "once again lights up the China Dream".

The landing marks the latest step in an ambitious space programme which is seen as a symbol of China's rising global stature and technological advancement, as well as the Communist Party's success in reversing the fortunes of the once-impoverished nation.

It comes a decade after the country first sent an astronaut into space, and ahead of plans to establish a permanent space station by 2020 and eventually send a human to the moon.



This photograph taken off the screen at the Beijing Space Centre shows the moon surface transmitted to earth by Chang'e-3 carrying China's first lunar rover on December 14, 2013


News of the landing quickly made an impact on China's hugely popular Internet message boards, with the words 'Chang’e-3 lunar landing' racing to the top of the list of searched items on Weibo just minutes after touchdown.

"Congratulations on Chang'e-3's successful lunar landing. Long live China!" said one netizen.

"Felt so excited when it landed!" added another.

The probe touched down on an ancient 400-kilometre (250-mile) wide plain known in Latin as Sinus Iridum, or The Bay of Rainbows.

The landing was previously described as the "most difficult" part of the mission by CAS on Chang'e-3's Weibo site.



This screen grab taken from CCTV live broadcasting footage shows an image (right) of China's first lunar rover transmitted back to the control centre in Beijing after it landed on the moon on December 14, 2013


The probe used sensors and 3D imaging to identify a flat surface. Thrusters were then deployed 100 metres (330 feet) from the lunar surface to gently guide the craft into position.

The landing process started at 9pm (13.00 GMT) and lasted for about 12 minutes.

Karl Bergquist, international relations administrator at the European Space Agency (ESA), who has worked with Chinese space officials on the Chang'e-3 mission, told AFP the key challenge was to identify a flat location for the landing.

Lunar exploration

The rover is set to be released from the landing craft in "a few hours", according to a post on Chang'e-3's Weibo page late Saturday.



The Chang'e-3 rocket carrying the Jade Rabbit rover blasts off from the Xichang Satellite Launch Centre in the Chinese province of Sichuan on December 2, 2013


Following separation, the rover will spend about three months exploring the moon's surface and looking for natural resources.

The rover can climb slopes of up to 30 degrees and travel at 200 metres per hour, according to the Shanghai Aerospace Systems Engineering Research Institute.

The Chang'e-3 mission is named after the goddess of the moon in Chinese mythology and the rover vehicle is called Yutu, or Jade Rabbit, after her pet.

Yutu's name was chosen in an online poll of 3.4 million voters.

"China wants to go to the moon for geostrategic reasons and domestic legitimacy," said Joan Johnson-Freese, a professor of national security affairs at the US Naval War College in Newport, Rhode Island, and an expert on Chinese space activities.

"With the US exploration moribund at best, that opens a window for China to be perceived as the global technology leader -- though the US still has more, and more advanced, assets in space," she added.


http://news.yahoo.com/china-39-first-lunar-rover-lands-moon-133044280.html

[Buster's Uncle]

China successfully soft-lands probe on the moon
Associated Press
By LOUISE WATT  1 hour ago



This Saturday Dec. 14, 2013 photo released by China's Xinhua News Agency, shows a picture of the moon surface taken by the on-board camera of the lunar probe Chang'e-3 on the screen of the Beijing Aerospace Control Center in Beijing, capital of China. China on Saturday successfully carried out the world's first soft landing of a space probe on the moon in nearly four decades, the next stage in an ambitious space program that aims to eventually put a Chinese astronaut on the moon. (AP Photo/Xinhua, Wang Jianmin) NO SALES



BEIJING (AP) — China on Saturday successfully carried out the world's first soft landing of a space probe on the moon in nearly four decades, state media said, the next stage in an ambitious space program that aims to eventually put a Chinese astronaut on the moon.

The unmanned Chang'e 3 lander, named after a mythical Chinese goddess of the moon, touched down on Earth's nearest neighbor following a 12-minute landing process.

The probe carried a six-wheeled moon rover called "Yutu," or "Jade Rabbit," the goddess' pet. After landing Saturday evening on a fairly flat, Earth-facing part of the moon, the rover was slated to separate from the Chang'e eight hours later and embark on a three-month scientific exploration.

China's space program is an enormous source of pride for the country, the third to carry out a lunar soft landing — which does not damage the craft and the equipment it carries — after the United States and the former Soviet Union. The last one was by the Soviet Union in 1976.

"It's still a significant technological challenge to land on another world," said Peter Bond, consultant editor for Jane's Space Systems and Industry. "Especially somewhere like the moon, which doesn't have an atmosphere so you can't use parachutes or anything like that. You have to use rocket motors for the descent and you have to make sure you go down at the right angle and the right rate of descent and you don't end up in a crater on top of a large rock."

State-run China Central Television showed a computer-generated image of the Chang'e 3 lander's path as it approached the surface of the moon, saying that during the 12-minute landing period it needed to have no contact with Earth. As it was just hundreds of meters (yards) away, the lander's camera broadcast images of the moon's surface.

The Chang'e 3's solar panels, which are used to absorb sunlight to generate power, opened soon after the landing. The Chang'e 3 will set up antennae that will transmit pictures back to Earth.

The Chang'e mission blasted off from southwest China on Dec. 2 on a Long March-3B carrier rocket.

China's military-backed space program has made methodical progress in a relatively short time, although it lags far behind the United States and Russia in technology and experience.

China sent its first astronaut into space in 2003, becoming the third nation after Russia and the United States to achieve manned space travel independently. In 2006, it sent its first probe to the moon. China plans to open a space station around 2020 and send an astronaut to the moon after that.

"They are taking their time with getting to know about how to fly humans into space, how to build space stations ... how to explore the solar system, especially the moon and Mars," Bond said. "They are making good strides, and I think over the next 10, 20 years they'll certainly be rivaling Russia and America in this area and maybe overtaking them in some areas."


http://news.yahoo.com/china-successfully-soft-lands-probe-moon-141611089.html