China on the Moon! CNSA What a difference a decade makes. Only 10 years after China sent its first lunar spacecraft on an orbital mission, the nation accomplished something nobody has managed to do before: plunk a lander, Chang'e 4, on the far side of the moon. Read here about the Chinese missions since 2009 and what the pioneering Chang'e 4, which touched down in January 2019, is expected to accomplish. FIRST: Chang'e 1 Chang'e 1 CNSA. Chang'e 1 launched in October 2007 on a 16-month mission to map the moon. The spacecraft scrutinized the lunar surface, analyzed the composition and depth of the materials there, and also looked at the surrounding environment. The mission fulfilled all of its objectives and controllers deliberately crashed the spacecraft onto the moon on March 2, 2009. NEXT: Chang'e 2 Chang'e 2 China Ministry of National Defense/Liberation Army Daily/Zhang Xiaoqi Chang'e 2, the second Chinese lunar mission, launched for Earth's nearest close neighbor on Oct. 1, 2010. It returned a high-resolution map of the entire moon's surface and took close-up images of the Bay of Rainbows, where mission planners at the time suggested they might put down the country's first lander. Chang'e-2 left the moon's neighborhood in April 2012 to fly by the asteroid 4179 Toutatis, which it reached in December 2012. NEXT: Chang'e 3 Chang'e 3 NAOC Chang'e 3 was the third Chinese lunar mission and the first to land on the surface. It made a safe landing on the moon on Dec. 14, 2013, at Mare Imbrium, on a site later called Guang Han Gong (Moon Palace). Chang'e 3 took images of the night sky from its perch on the surface, using an optical telescope, and it sent back imagery of the surrounding area as well as of its rover, Yutu. It also discovered a new kind of basaltic rock in 2015. NEXT: Yutu Rover Yutu rover CNTV Chang'e 3 is most famous for the deployment of its rover, Yutu — the first one to deploy on the moon since 1976. After heading out to the surface on Dec. 14, 2013, Yutu took many images and panoramas that were sent back to Earth, showing the surrounding environment. The rover moved well for a few days in December; by January 2014, after it emerged from the sleep mode it had entered to survive the long lunar night, it appears all drives had stopped. But the rover kept transmitting data until 2015. NEXT: Chang'e 5 Test 1 Chang'e 5 Test 1 China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation/SpaceChina.com In October 2014, China shifted tracks and launched its first round-trip moon journey, dubbed Chang'e 5 Test 1 mission. The mission was supposed to test the performance of spacecraft items such as its heat shield, guidance, navigation and control. Once analyzed, this information was expected to be included in future lunar-landing missions. The spacecraft also carried some smaller satellites from LuxSpace in Luxembourg and Pocket Spacecraft in the United Kingdom. NEXT: Chang'e 5 Test 1 Landing! Landing of Chang'e 5 Test 1 STR/AFP/Getty The Chang'e 5 Test 1 mission landed safely in Mongolia on Oct. 31, 2014. Meanwhile, the service module remained in space to run rendezvous tests for the future Chang'e 5 mission, which is expected to bring lunar samples back to Earth. China plans to launch Chang'e 5 late in 2019 and bring back at least 4.4 lbs. (2 kilograms) of samples upon its return. NEXT: Queqiao Relay Satellite Queqiao Relay Satellite for Chang'e 4 China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation Since landing on the far side of the moon requires a satellite, China sent the Queqiao relay satellite toward the moon on May 20, 2018. The far side of the moon permanently faces away from Earth, so Queqiao acts as a relay for the pictures and data that the Chang'e 4 mission transmits back to Earth. Queqiao is stationed at a gravitationally stable spot called Earth-moon Lagrange point-2, which is roughly 40,000 miles (64,000 kilometers) away from the moon's far side. NEXT: Chang'e 4 to the Moon's Far Side Chang'e 4 to the Moon's Far Side CASC Chang'e 4 descended into history Jan. 2, 2019, when it made a safe touchdown on the far side of the moon. The spacecraft landed in Von Kármán Crater, taking pictures of its gentle fall using a descent camera. The lander and its rover will work together to learn more about the moon's radiation environment, surface and subsurface. They also will do radio astronomy, as well as a small biosphere experiment. Chang'e 4 Far Side Moon Rover CNSA Early images of the far side of the moon from Change '4 showed a dusty environment that will come under great scrutiny in the weeks after landing, which the mission is exploring with the rover Yutu 2. The far side is a more rugged environment in general than the near side, since tidal erosion has been pulling on the moon's near side and smoothing out the features there for eons. However, there are zones on the far side that are safe enough for lunar landings. NEXT: Chang'e 4 to the Moon's Far Side<doc-sep>Get email updates with the day's biggest stories Invalid Email Something went wrong, please try again later. Sign up Thank you for subscribing We have more newsletters Show me See our privacy notice Earlier this month, China made history by landing a rover on the ‘dark side of the moon’ for the first time. While China’s National Space Administration has posted several photos and videos of the landing, conspiracy theorists aren’t convinced. Now, one conspiracy theorist claims he has evidence that the moon landing was fake. Scott C. Waring, who runs UFO Sightings Daily, believes he’s spotted a ‘stage prop line’ in a photo of the Jade Rabbit rover. (Image: UFO Sightings Daily) On his site, he said: “Someone mistakenly placed a line in front of the rover and forgot to erase it. “Or they should have made the line much smaller. This screams staged event all together.” Mr Waring also claims that the lack of rocks in the image is a sign that the image is fake. (Image: Xinhua) He added: “Notice the lack of moon rocks on the entire surface of the moon...which is exactly what the first Apollo moon landing also showed...a sign of being faked on a stage.” However, Nigel Watson, author of UFOs of the First World War, isn't falling for Waring's theory. Speaking to Mirror Online, he said: "The Moon is a location where conspiracy theorists' ideas go rampant. "In this instance the 'prop line' could be a reflection of sunlight from the solar panels on top of the vehicle. "Whatever it is, it is very slim case for evidence that the Chinese faked this mission!"<doc-sep>A Chinese spacecraft has become the first to land on the far side of the moon in a historic moment for human space exploration. The successful touch down was hailed as a major technical feat and is seen as a important step towards China’s wider ambitions in space. The robotic probe Chang’e 4 landed in the unexplored South Pole-Aitken basin, the biggest known impact structure in the solar system, at about 2.30am GMT on Thursday. Prior to confirmation of the landing and the release of the first close-up shots of the far lunar surface by the Chinese state broadcaster CCTV, many details of the mission, including the planned timing of the landing, had been kept secret. Timeline The history of space exploration Show Was this helpful? Thank you for your feedback. The landing was described as “an impressive accomplishment” by Nasa administrator Jim Bridenstine. Martin Wieser, a scientist at the Swedish Institute of Space Physics and principal investigator on one of the instruments onboard Chang’e, said: “We know the far side from orbital images and satellites, but we don’t know it from the surface. It’s uncharted territory and that makes it very exciting.” A significant challenge faced by the Chinese team was the inability to communicate directly with the spacecraft. Signals to and from the rover are being relayed through a satellite called Queqiao (Magpie Bridge). Queqiao is in a “halo orbit” on the other side of the moon, from where it can communicate with both Chang’e and the Earth. During the final phases of the approach, however, Chang’e 4 was on its own and could not be operated remotely. Starting from an altitude of 15km, the craft used a rocket booster to decelerate. At 100 metres above the lunar surface, the probe briefly hovered to identify obstacles and measured the slopes on the surface. Using a a hi-tech camera and laser measurements to avoid boulders and ditches, it selected a relatively flat area and resumed a slow, vertical descent, touching down softly in the Von Karman Crater within the South Pole-Aitken Basin, according to a report by the Xinhua news agency. Chang’e 4 targeted the Von Kármán crater, which was predicted to have a smooth volcanic floor and which sits within the great Aitken basin. “This is a great technological accomplishment as it was out of sight of Earth, so signals are relayed back by their orbiter, and most of the landing was actually done autonomously in difficult terrain,” said Prof Andrew Coates, a space scientist at UCL’s Mullard Space Science Laboratory. “The landing was almost vertical because of the surrounding hills.” An artist’s impression of Chang’e-4’s lunar rover on the moon. Photograph: China National Space Administration/HANDOUT/EPA After landing, the solar panels and antennas on the probe were unfolded under the control of the space engineers in Beijing. Mission control in Beijing are now preparing to send signals for the rover to separate from the lander. Spacecraft have taken pictures of the moon’s far side before, but no lander has ever touched down there. Instruments onboard the Chang’e lander and rover will aim to study the local lunar geology, probe the moon’s interior, and analyse the solar wind – a stream of high-energy particles that flow from the sun. Onboard experiments will also test how well plants grow in the weak lunar gravity. The far side of the moon is of particular scientific interest as it is heavily pockmarked by deep craters – more so than the nearside, where a succession of lava flows have obscured many of the earliest impacts. Scientists are still trying to understand why there are differences between the two faces of the moon, but think that these probably date back to the moon’s origin. The Aitken basin, where Chang’e 4 has landed, is the Moon’s largest and oldest impact crater. Dating when the basin was created could help narrow down the window for a period of heavy bombardment of the moon and inner planets by asteroids left over from the formation of the solar system. Intriguingly, the timing of the heavy bombardment closely coincides with when life appeared on Earth and scientists are trying to work out the exact sequence and whether the bombardment by asteroids might have created the conditions for life. “Understanding the intensity and timing of the bombardment is important as … that was going on about the same time that life appeared on Earth,” said Ian Crawford, professor of planetary science and astrobiology at Birkbeck University, London. “The Earth has lost its record of that very early time.” During the coming weeks mission control are expected to spend time testing that the rover is operating as expected, before starting to collect data and beam it back to Earth. Weiser said he expected to get the first batch of data back in mid-February. In the next phase of China’s lunar programme, the Chang’e 5 and 6 missions will attempt to collect lunar samples and return them to Earth. Chang’e 5 is due to launch in December next year.<doc-sep>China exchanged data with NASA for its recent historic mission to land a probe on the far side of the Moon, officials said Monday. The Chinese space agency's deputy director, Wu Yanhua, said NASA shared information about its lunar orbiter satellite in hopes of monitoring the landing of China’s Chang'e 4 spacecraft. China became the first country to successfully land a probe on the far side of the Moon when Chang’e 4 reached the lunar surface on Jan. 2. CHINA SUCCESSFULLY LANDS SPACECRAFT ON FAR SIDE OF MOON, STATE MEDIA SAYS Chinese space officials, in turn, shared the time and coordinates of Chang'e 4's scheduled landing, Wu told reporters during a briefing on the lunar mission. He added that while NASA's satellite did not catch the precise moment of landing, it took photographs of the area afterward. The data exchange is the first such collaboration since an American law banned joint space projects with China that do not have prior congressional approval. The state-run China Daily said that was the first such form of cooperation since the 2011 U.S. law was enacted. Fox News has reached out to NASA with a request for comment on this story. CHINESE ROVER LEAVES TRACKS ON FAR SIDE OF THE MOON The Moon's far side is also known as the dark side because it faces away from Earth and remains comparatively unknown, with a different composition from sites on the near side, where previous missions have landed. Last week China released new pictures showing the Jade Rabbit 2 rover and the Chang'e 4 spacecraft that transported it to the Moon. Among the images is a stunning 360-degree panorama stitched together from 80 photos taken by a camera on the lander after it released the rover onto the lunar surface. Researchers have already completed a preliminary analysis of the lunar surface topography around the landing site based on the image, according to a statement released by China’s Lunar and Deep Space Exploration (CLEP). CHINA’S LUNAR PROBE SNAPS FIRST PANORAMIC PIC OF THE FAR SIDE OF THE MOON The space administration also released a 12-minute video of Chang'e 4's landing utilizing more than 4,700 images taken by an onboard camera. The probe is shown adjusting its altitude, speed and pitch as it seeks to avoid obstacles on the ground. The mission demonstrates China’s growing ambitions as a space power to rival Russia, the European Union and the U.S. In 2013, China became just the third country, after the U.S. and the then-Soviet Union, to successfully “soft land” on the Moon when its Chang'e 3 lander reached the lunar surface. ASTRONAUT DESCRIBES WATCHING THE MOON LANDING WITH PRESIDENT NIXON IN THE WHITE HOUSE The U.S. is the only country to have placed astronauts on the Moon, having last done so in December 1972 during the Apollo 17 mission. Only 12 men, all Americans, have set foot on the Moon. This year marks the 50th anniversary of the historic Apollo 11 Moon landing and lunar missions continue to be a source of fascination for all segments of the population. A checklist that traveled to the surface of the Moon with Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin recently sold at auction in New York for $62,500. In the same auction, three tiny Moon rocks brought back from space by the unmanned Soviet Luna-16 mission were sold for $855,000. CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP Dec. 21, 2018 also marked the 50th anniversary of the momentous Apollo 8 launch. During a series of historic lunar orbits, NASA astronauts Frank Borman, Jim Lovell and Bill Anders became the first humans to see the far side of the Moon. Fox News ‘ Edmund DeMarche, Chris Ciaccia and the Associated Press contributed to this article. Follow James Rogers on Twitter @jamesjrogers<doc-sep>
Nasa has found itself at the centre of many bizarre and far-fetched conspiracy theories over the years. So it’s easy to imagine that the space agency has some sympathy with China, which has been accused of faking a recent landing on the dark side of the moon. Now Nasa has released pictures of the spot where the Chang’e 4 lander touched down on the lunar surface. Scientists also published a statement which said: ‘Chang’e 4 safely set down on the plains of Von Kármán crater last week (3 January 2019). Soon thereafter a colour image of the immediate surroundings was relayed back to the Earth from the far side.’ These Nasa pictures show the landing site of the Chang’e 4 spacecraft (Picture: LROC) To view this video please enable JavaScript, and consider upgrading to a web browser that supports HTML5 video The images were snapped by the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter Camera (LROC), which is fitted to a satellite orbiting the moon. They show the site before the landing, meaning there is still a chance that the landings were a hoax, although it seems unlikely that American scientists would be able to resist landing a major blow against China if it really did fake the mission. The rumours about a hoax were started by alien hunter Scott C Waring of UFO Sightings Daily, who said: ‘I guess China may have decided since NASA faked the first Apollo moon landing and got away with it, then China wanted in on it too. ‘Look at the original photo you will see that there are no other lines in the entire giant panoramic photo. OMG, this is so very disappointing. Notice the lack of moon rocks on the entire surface of the moon…which is exactly what the first Apollo moon landing also showed…a sign of being faked on a stage.’ Officials with the China National Space Administration said the landings were a ‘total success’ after releasing pics showing the Jade Rabbit 2 rover moving away from its lander. The pictures show a rocky surface with the jagged edge of craters in the background, posing a challenge for the controllers who are plotting the rover’s travels, the official Xinhua News Agency said. This line on the lunar surface was hailed as evidence this mission was a fraud (Photo: China National Space Administration) UFO hunter Scott C. Waring drew a big red circle on the images to back up his claims (UFO Sightings Daily) ‘From the panorama, we can see the probe is surrounded by lots of small craters, which was really thrilling,’ Li was quoted as saying. The space administration also released a 12-minute video of Chang’e 4’s landing, using more than 4,700 images taken by an on-board camera. The probe is shown adjusting its altitude, speed and pitch as it seeks to avoid obstacles on the ground. Amazon mocked for AmaZen mental health 'cry closets' set up on factory floor Researchers hope that low-frequency observations of the cosmos from the far side of the moon, where radio signals from Earth are blocked, will help scientists learn more about the early days of the solar system and birth of the universe’s first stars. The far side has been observed many times from lunar orbits, but never explored on the surface. It is popularly called the ‘dark side’ because it cannot be seen from Earth and is relatively unknown, not because it lacks sunlight. The pioneering landing highlights China’s ambitions to rival the US, Russia and Europe in space through manned flights and the planned construction of a permanent space station. An artist’s impression of the exploration craft (Photo: China National Space Administration) In America, 21 million people believe that the moon landings were faked – despite pictures clearly showing flags left by the Apollo missions. Moon hoax conspiracy theories are often the ‘entry level’ conspiracy which guides people to the really weird ‘hard stuff’ like believing the Earth is flat. But where did the idea come from? We can blame one rocket expert, Bill Kaysing, a technical writer who self-published a book called ‘We Never Went to the Moon: America’s Thirty Billion Dollar Swindle.’ Many of the supposed ‘giveaways’ still touted by moon truthers today come from Kaysing’s book, according to author C Stuart Hardwick, writing on Quora. Hardwick says, ‘The first person to give real voice to moon hoax conspira-nonesense was Bill Kaysing, a technical writer who had worked for Rocketdyne until 1963.