Chang'e 4 spacecraft sends images after landing on far side of the Moon in world first for China
Updated
A Chinese spacecraft has made the first landing on
the far side of the Moon, sending back images of a crater in the latest
achievement for the country's growing space program.
Key points:
- China becomes the first country to complete a soft landing on the Moon's far side
- The Chang'e 4 will investigate the Moon's potential to support future space travellers
- The mission is part of China's ambitious push to explore the Moon's resources
The Chang'e 4 probe successfully performed the first soft landing on the Moon's far side on Thursday, the Chinese National Space Agency said.
The lander has succeeded in its first task of deploying its rover — named Yutu-2 — which has started exploring the Moon's Von Karman crater.
China's space agency shared an image of the rover being deployed, along with a picture taken from the south side of the landing site which was relayed back via a relay satellite, according to state-owned television network CGTN.
Black and white images taken by the probe before and after its landing were also shared by Chinese news agencies.
It is the first time a soft landing has been performed on the Moon's far side — also known as the dark side because it faces away from Earth and remains comparatively unknown — due to challenges relaying signals.
Chang'e 4 is a lander-rover combination and will explore both above and below the lunar surface.
Chang'e Moon missions
- Chang'e 1: China's first lunar mission launched in 2007. It orbited the Moon and created a topographical map of the surface
- Chang'e 2: A second orbiting mission in 2011 to scout for future landing sites as well as take high-resolution photos
- Chang'e 3: First unmanned Moon landing of the Chang'e effort. The lander with Jade Rabbit touched down in 2013, making it the first soft landing on the Moon since 1976. Despite some technical issues, the rover functioned until 2016 when it was officially declared dead
- Chang'e 4: China's current mission to explore and research the far side of the Moon
- Chang'e 5: Future mission slated for 2019 to collect and return lunar rocks and soil
Some of the experiments aboard will investigate the Moon's potential to support future space travellers.
One of those experiments is a biosphere project, which includes silkworm eggs, thale cress and potato seeds.
If it goes to plan, the ecosystem would be self-sustaining, with the silkworms germinating the potatoes and popping out caterpillars. These would in turn produce carbon dioxide, helping the plants grow as a food source.
Because the far side faces away from Earth, it is also shielded from radio transmissions — making it the perfect place from which to study the universe.
The mission is part of China's ambitious push to explore the Moon's resources and potential as a space base.
China landed its Yutu, or "Jade Rabbit" rover on the Moon five years ago and plans to have Chang'e 5 return to earth with samples — the first time that will have been done since 1976.
A crewed lunar mission is also under consideration.
The Moon's not-so-dark side
While in popular culture the far side of the Moon is often called the "dark side", the far side is not dark in the sense that it does get exposed to sunlight.It is known as the far side because only the near side of the Moon can be seen from Earth, as the Moon takes the same time to spin on its axis as it takes to complete one full orbit.
The far side has been mapped by several orbiting craft over the years.
The dominant feature is the 2,500km-wide South Pole-Aitken basin, the Moon's oldest and deepest crater.
Scientists are particularly interested in the geology of the basin as it may help explain how the Moon formed.
ABC/AP
Space to play or pause, M to mute, left and right arrows to seek, up and down arrows for volume.
