China has successfully landed a probe on the back side of the moon, and it intends to bring part of it back to Earth with a load of rocks. The Chang’e-6 lander landed in the Aitken Basin near the South Pole. It touched down in a crater and appears to be operating normally. The lander has been in a lunar orbit for 20 days and is part of a four-part system that includes the orbiter, lander, ascender and reentry vehicle that will ultimately bring the payload home.
The robotic mission is a dress rehearsal for a crewed mission planned for 2030 and the eventual establishment of a base in the area, which may have ice. The mission began on May 3 and is scheduled to last 53 days. As for the scientific part of the mission, the samples are expected to reveal information on the origin and natural history of the moon. It’s China’s second successful uncrewed landing on the moon.
It is a hell of an achievement! Magna cum Laude! Let’s se what we can all learn from this stupendous effort.
This will drive NASA nuts. BTW, there is no dark side of the moon. It is tidally locked to Earth so there is a far side, where the Aitken Basin is located, but all sides are illuminated each month as it orbits the Earth.
Must be a flashback to the 70s for me. I meant to write back side. I’ll fix it.
Were the dark ages truly sunless? I’ve always interpreted “dark side” as the side that we never see.
@ niio : Well, to be fair, then, there *is* a dark side of the moon, just not always the same one (well, you started it!).
🙂
@ m@winlow.co.uk: Right!, except Chang’e 6 alighted on the lunar surface shortly after sunrise for best smooth-surface detection conditions. It was most definitely NOT dark.
Cue the Pink Floyd.
Right on!
and sorry about the “flag” I clicked on the wrong icon. 🙁
“Matter of fact it’s all dark”….
Is the photo “generated”, or if it is an actual photo, from what kind of platform (the orbiter?) was the photo taken?
That’s amazing – well, more so if they manage to get the payload back to earth.
Well you guys beat me to the punch line, “There is no dark side of the moon really. Matter of fact, it’s all dark.” My love for Pink Floyd back in the ’70s is how I ended up with my call sign “Pinky”.
Moving on to the image of the lander, I am pretty sure it deployed a long selfie-stick for its iPhone. We should see it regularly posting on TikTok any minute now.
Could they make it look any more like the original “NASA Lunar Lander”? Come on China you can do better, don’t use all those stolen plans that the Soviet Union sold you from the 1970’s.
Well, it’s obviously a design that works. We proved that back in the 60s.
Second rule of engineering: use what’s been shown to work.
(First rule: something about trade-offs and compromises.)
My thoughts exactly Roger. On second look, the lander does appear more square then I remember from the plastic model I built 5-ish decades ago.
The far side is dark like the continent of Africa… lots of it unexplored or even seen first person.
At the rate we are going right now, China may have a manned mission to the moon before we get Artemis launched to the ISS.
That should read the Starliner, not Artemis. Need to get my facts straight!