A mural of George Floyd is shown in the intersection of 38th St & Chicago Ave on March 31, 2021 in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Community members continue preparations during the third day in the trial of former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin, who is charged with multiple counts of murder in the death of George Floyd. (Photo by Brandon Bell/Getty Images) WASHINGTON, DC - JULY 01: President Donald Trump's lawyer and former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani talks to journalists outside the White House West Wing July 01, 2020 in Washington, DC. Giuliani did an on-camera interview with One America News Network's Chanel Rion before talking to other journalists about Vice President Joe Biden and the news that Russian intelligence may have paid Taliban operatives to kill U.S. troops in Afghanistan. (Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images) ORLANDO, FLORIDA - FEBRUARY 28: Former President Donald Trump addresses the Conservative Political Action Conference held in the Hyatt Regency on February 28, 2021 in Orlando, Florida. Begun in 1974, CPAC brings together conservative organizations, activists, and world leaders to discuss issues important to them. (Photo by Joe Raedle/Getty Images) Here's what reported grand jury in Trump case may look like NEW YORK, NY - FEBRUARY 09: People walk past the Trump Tower as the impeachment trial of Donald Trump begins in Washington on February 09, 2021 in New York City. After listening to nearly four hours of legal arguments, the Senate has voted on Tuesday to move ahead with the impeachment trial of former President Trump. (Photo by Spencer Platt/Getty Images) Report: US companies may have benefited from forced labor of Uyghurs WASHINGTON, DC - MAY 20: U.S. President Joe Biden delivers remarks on the conflict in the Middle East from Cross- Hall of the White House on May 20, 2021 in Washington, DC. Israel and Hamas announced that they would agree to a cease-fire, which will take into effect on Friday, following days of fighting that claimed more than 200 lives. (Photo by Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images) SAN JOSE, CA - MAY 26: A view of the Valley Transportation Authority (VTA) light-rail yard where a mass shooting occurred on May 26, 2021 in San Jose, California. A VTA employee opened fire at the yard, with preliminary reports indicating nine people dead including the gunman. (Photo by Philip Pacheco/Getty Images) A healthcare worker prepares to administer a Pfizer/BioNTEch coronavirus disease (Covid-19) vaccine at The Michener Institute, in Toronto, Ontario on December 14, 2020. - Ontario, Canada's most populous province and one of the hardest hit by the pandemic, had 1,940 new cases and 23 deaths on Monday. The province is expected to give its next doses to nursing home workers as a priority, according to media reports. (Photo by CARLOS OSORIO / POOL / AFP) (Photo by CARLOS OSORIO/POOL/AFP via Getty Images) 'Never seen levels like this': Union president on airline passenger misconduct Memorial Day weekend will bring rain and cool air for much of the East China lands on the far side of the moon In this image provided on Jan. 3, 2019, by China's Xinhua News Agency, a simulated landing process of Chang'e-4 lunar probe is seen through the monitor at Beijing Aerospace Control Center in Beijing. A Chinese spacecraft on Thursday, Jan. 3, 2019, made the first-ever landing on the far side of the moon, state media said. (Jin Liwang/Xinhua News via AP) Explore humanity’s first moon landing through newly discovered and restored archival footage. CNN Films “Apollo 11” premieres Sunday, June 23 at 9 p.m. ET/PT. (CNN) — In a historic first, China has landed a rover on the far side of the moon, state media announced Thursday, a huge milestone for the nation as it attempts to position itself as a leading space power. China’s National Space Administration landed the rover at 10:26 a.m. Beijing time in the South Pole-Aitken Basin, the moon’s largest and oldest impact crater, China Central Television reported. It made its final descent from an elliptical orbit 15 kilometers (9.3 miles) above the moon’s surface, making a “smooth” and “precise” landing, according to the general designer of the probe Chang’e 4, Sun Zezhou, who added that the spacecraft pulled off a “bull’s-eye.” AP The first image of the moon's far side taken after the Chang'e 4 probe landed. State media reported that the rover, which China has named Yutu-2, or Jade Rabbit-2, transmitted back the world’s first close-range image of the far side of the moon. The rover was named in a global poll in August. In Chinese foklore, Yutu is the white pet rabbit of Chang’e, the moon goddess after which the Chinese lunar mission is named, state media Xinhua reported. Several hours after touchdown, the rover separated from the lander on the moon’s surface and began its mission. The far side of the moon is the hemisphere that never faces Earth, due to the moon’s rotation. It is sometimes mistakenly referred to as the “dark side of the moon,” even though it receives just as much sunlight as its Earth-facing side. AP Another image of the moon taken by the probe. The success of the mission represents a landmark in human space exploration. The area where the probe has landed faces away from Earth, meaning it is free from radio frequencies. As a result, it is not possible for a lunar rover to communicate directly with ground control. To overcome this hurdle, China launched a dedicated satellite orbiting the moon last year that will be able to relay information from the rover to Earth. “China is on the road to become a strong space nation. And this marks one of the milestone events of building a strong space nation,” chief designer for the lunar mission, Wu Weiren, told China Central Television. STR/AFP/GETTY IMAGES The Xichang Satellite Launch Center The lunar craft lifted off from the Xichang Satellite Launch Center in Sichuan province on December 8, entering the moon’s orbit four days later, according to state media.<doc-sep>The Chang'e-4 probe had achieved the expected landing precision. China's second lunar rover Yutu-2 (Jade Rabbit-2), which is the first-ever rover to drive on the Moon's far side, will face considerable challenges brought by complicated terrain in its future exploration, Chinese space experts have said. On January 3, the Chang'e-4 probe, including a lander and a rover, touched down on the Von Karman Crater in the South Pole-Aitken (SPA) Basin on the far side of the moon, with the rover driving onto the lunar surface late that night. "From the images sent back from Chang'e-4, we can see the area surrounding the probe is dotted with craters of different sizes, and it's very difficult for the rover to drive in the region," said Sun Zezhou, chief designer of the Chang'e-4 probe, Xinhua news agency reported on Monday. "We'll try to find the relatively safe areas and make a reasonable plan for the route of the rover based on the images taken by it," Sun said. The rover is capable of avoiding some obstacles. If there are obstacles in front of it, it can stop and plan a new route on its own. It can also climb some slopes and cross some rocks. "We haven't found any insurmountable obstacles in the region yet," Sun said. According to Wu Yanhua, deputy director of the China National Space Administration (CNSA), a primary analysis has shown that the northwestern region from the probe is relatively flat, and the probe will mainly drive to the region. Both the lander and the rover entered a "sleep mode" on Sunday as the first lunar night after the probe's landing fell, Wu said. One night on the Moon lasts about 14 days on Earth, during which the temperature falls as low as minus 180 degrees centigrade. There is no sunlight to provide power to the probe, which will survive the night with its thermal control system with a radioisotope heat source. The CNSA had on Friday released a video of the landing process of the Chang'e-4, which was produced by processing more than 4,700 pictures taken by a camera on the probe. The Chang'e-4 probe had achieved the expected landing precision. The telemetry information and images taken by the probe showed that the spacecraft effectively avoided obstacles during its descent, the report said. "It hovered at around 100 meters above the lunar surface and moved about eight metres towards the southwestern direction. After its landing, we discovered large craters with a diameter of more than 10 metres on both the southern and northern sides of the probe, and it successfully avoided them," Sun said. The probe has started its scientific exploration, focusing on studying the terrain and landforms, lunar environment and substances composition, Xinhua news agency reported.<doc-sep>Earlier this week, Chinese lunar probe Chang'e-4 made history by becoming the first spacecraft to ever land on the far side of the Moon - the less-studied, mountainous half that faces away from the Earth. Yesterday, we were blessed with a number of new high-resolution images, courtesy of China's National Space Administration, showing the more mysterious side of the Moon in all its glory. The pictures had to make their way through a special relay satellite called Queqiao since radio communication with the far side of the Moon is far more difficult. Chang'e-4 launched on December 7 to explore the differences between the far, and near side of the Moon in terms of their mineral composition, and structure. It's also carrying a tiny biosphere containing a number of Earth-based species including potato plants and fruit flies. (CSNA) The pictures, taken by Chang'e-4's on-board cameras, show the Yutu 2 rover - China revealed that name yesterday - rolling down tracks and leaving the Chang'e-4 lander behind. The rover is situated in the floor of the 115 mile wide (186 kilometers) Von Kármán Crater near the Moon's South Pole. (CSNA) Yutu 2 is the successor of the original Yutu rover that landed on the near side of the Moon back in December 2013 as part of the Chang'e-3 mission. Since the Chang'e-4 and accompanying rover were meant to be backups for their predecessors, the designs are strikingly similar. (CSNA) The image above shows Yutu 2's specialized wheels, designed to survive the treacherous, yet low-gravity conditions on the Moon's surface. The term "Dark Side of the Moon" is a misnomer - the far side of the Moon receives quite a bit of light, just as much as its near side. As Space.com points out, the lunar day cycle lasts a much longer 709 hours - roughly 30 days on Earth. That means it will be light for half of that time, roughly two weeks. In fact, Chang'e-4 landed shortly after the sun rose on the far side, meaning it has roughly 14 Earth days of daylight ahead of it. And we can't wait to find out what the lander - and Yutu 2 - have in store for us. This article was originally published by Futurism. Read the original article.<doc-sep>Liftoff for Chang'e 4! Jiang Hongjing/Xinhua/Zuma China launched its Chang'e 4 mission to the far side of the moon on Dec. 8, 2018 Beijing Time (Dec. 7 EST/GMT). China is the first country ever to send a rover to soft-land on the lunar farside. See the mission photos here! Chang'e 4 Clears the Tower Jiang Hongjing/Xinhua/Zuma China’s Chang'e 4 lunar probe lifts off the pad at Xichang Satellite Launch Center on Dec. 7, 2018 (Dec. 8 local Chinese time). Chang'e 4 Far Side Moon Spacecraft CASC The three main spacecraft of China's Chang'e 4 mission to the far side of the moon are seen in this still from a China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation animation. The mission uses the Chang'e 4 lander and rover on the lunar surface, with communications supplied by the Queqiao relay satellite above. A Yutu Successor CNTV The Chang'e 4 mission's rover is similar to the Yutu rover that successfully reached the moon on China's Chang'e 3 mission. The Chang'e 4 rover and lander were backup vehicles for that earlier moon landing. The Lander CASC An artist's illustration of China's Chang'e 4 lander on the far side of the moon. Like its rover, Chang'e 4's lander was once a backup vehicle for the successful Chang'e 3 mission. Chang'e 4 Mission Milestones CASC CASC This CASC graphic shows the major milestones of China's Chang'e 4 moon landing mission on the lunar far side, including an extended cruise time to the moon. Chang'e 4 Rises into the Sky Jiang Hongjing/Xinhua/Zuma China’s Chang'e 4 lunar probe rises into the sky above Xichang Satellite Launch Center on Dec. 7, 2018 (Dec. 8 local Chinese time). Liftoff for China's Chang'e 4 Moon Mission CASC The Long March 3B rocket carrying China's Chang'e 4 moon far side lander and rover lifted off from the Xichang Satellite Launch Center on Dec. 7, 2018 (Dec. 8 local Chinese time). Launch Success for Chang'e 4 China National Space Administration Liftoff of China's Chang'e 4 mission to the moon's far side occurred on Dec. 8, 2018 at 2:23 a.m. Beijing Time (1:23 p.m. EDT/1823 GMT on Dec. 7). Meet Queqiao CNSA The Chang'e 4 spacecraft won't be alone at the moon. Before launching the lander and rover, the China National Space Administration sent the Queqiao relay satellite to the moon to serve as a communications relay for the mission. China Launches Chang'e 4 Relay Satellite China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation China's Queqiao relay satellite for the country's Chang'e 4 mission to the far side of the moon launched into space atop a Long March 4C rocket on Monday, May 21, 2018 Beijing Time (Sunday, May 20 EDT).<doc-sep>
Chang'e-4: Chinese rover now exploring Moon By Paul Rincon Science editor, BBC News website Published 4 January 2019 image caption An image of the rover rolling off the lander A Chinese robotic rover has got its wheels dirty after rolling off its landing craft and onto the lunar soil. The Chang'e-4 spacecraft touched down on the far side of the Moon at 10:26 Beijing time (02:26 GMT) on Thursday. Lunar exploration chief Wu Weiren echoed Neil Armstrong's famous quote, telling state media the event marked a "huge stride" for China. The rover and lander are carrying instruments to analyse the unexplored region's geology. It represents the first ever such attempt and landing on the far side of the Moon, which has distinct characteristics to the near side we can see from Earth. According to the Guardian newspaper, Weiren told the state broadcaster CCTV: "The separation of Chang'e 4's rover was smooth and perfect." "The rover rolled only a small step on to the Moon, but it represented a huge stride for the Chinese nation." The rover touched the lunar surface at 22:22 Beijing time (14:22 GMT), about 12 hours after the landing. The event was captured by the camera on the lander and the images were sent back to the Earth via the relay satellite "Queqiao", China's Xinhua state news agency reported. China has also chosen a name for the rover - Yutu 2 - following a worldwide poll to name the rover in August. In Chinese folklore, Yutu is the white pet rabbit of Chang'e, the moon goddess who lent her name to the Chinese lunar mission. The number two at the end of the name acknowledges its predecessor, a Chinese rover called Yutu which touched down at Mare Imbrium on the Moon's near side in 2013. image copyright EPA/CNSA Why is this Moon landing so significant? Previous Moon missions have landed on the Earth-facing side, but this is the first attempt to explore the rugged far side from the surface. Some spacecraft have crashed into the far side, either after system failures, or after they had completed their mission. Ye Quanzhi, an astronomer at Caltech, told the BBC this was the first time China had "attempted something that other space powers have not attempted before". Landing on the far side isn't fundamentally different to landing on the near side of the Moon. But it presents a communications challenge because there's no direct line of sight to Earth. image copyright EPA/CNSA image caption The far side is not visible from the Earth due to "tidal locking" The Chang'e-4 was launched from Xichang Satellite Launch Centre in China on 7 December; it arrived in lunar orbit on 12 December. It was then directed to lower itself toward the Moon, being careful to identify and avoid obstacles, Chinese state media say. The Chang'e-4 probe is aiming to explore a place called the Von Kármán crater, located within the much larger South Pole-Aitken (SPA) Basin - thought to have been formed by a giant impact early in the Moon's history. "This huge structure is over 2,500km (1,550 miles) in diameter and 13km deep, one of the largest impact craters in the Solar System and the largest, deepest and oldest basin on the Moon," Andrew Coates, professor of physics at UCL's Mullard Space Science Laboratory in Surrey, told the BBC. The event responsible for carving out the SPA basin is thought to have been so powerful, it punched through the Moon's crust and down into the zone called the mantle. Researchers will want to train the instruments on any mantle rocks exposed by the calamity. The science team also hopes to study parts of the sheet of melted rock that would have filled the newly formed South Pole-Aitken Basin, allowing them to identify variations in its composition. Another objective is to study the far-side regolith, the broken up rocks and dust that make up the surface, which will help us understand the formation of the Moon. What else might we learn from this mission? Chang'e-4's static lander is carrying two cameras; a German-built radiation experiment called LND; and a spectrometer that will perform low-frequency radio astronomy observations. Scientists believe the far side could be an excellent place to perform low-frequency radio astronomy, because it is shielded from the radio noise of Earth.