Ah, those backwards Chinese…
Better get ready to eat those words. China announced that they have done something which lands them in the spatial big leagues: Landing on the Moon’s far side – twice. And bringing samples back, which no one has done.
China successfully landed a lunar lander on the far side of the moon on Sunday morning, the country’s space agency announced, taking the mission one step closer to bringing back the first sample from the part of the moon that earthlings never see.
Chang’e-6, named after the Chinese moon goddess, is the second mission to have touched down on the far side of the moon. Its predecessor, Chang’e-4, made history as the first to do so in 2019.
The far side of the moon is distinct from the near side, where the United States, China and what was then the Soviet Union have gathered samples. It has a thicker crust, more craters and fewer maria, or plains where lava once flowed. It’s unclear why the two sides of the moon are so different; the samples collected by Chang’e-6 could provide some clues.
The South Pole-Aitken basin, a massive impact crater about 1,600 miles wide, is among the largest in the history of the solar system, and the impact that created it is thought to have dug up material from the lunar mantle. That material, if it can be retrieved, could help scientists learn more about the history of the moon’s insides.
The country has successfully launched a mission to Mars and has plans for a future visit to an asteroid. It also aims to put a person on the moon before 2030, which would make it the second nation to do so after the United States.NY Times
Sounds to me that they can claim to be a space peer. Actually, given we have to contract our space lift, I’m not sure whether we are still considered their peer. I can tell you this, anyone who lived through the ’60s would never have predicted this then.
The article notes that Japan also sent up a lunar lander this year which lost power 3 miles above the Moon – fear not, in 1/6 Terran gravity it is only the equivalent of crashing from a 1/2 mile up on Earth. Oh, wait…
Category: China
“one step closer to bringing back the first sample from the part of the moon that earthlings never see”
Or taste. If it’s anything like the cheese on the front side it must
be pretty rank by now.
“Theres A Moon Out Tonight”, the Capris 1958 on the Planet label.
Yes, but do they celebrate diversity?
Absolutely. Once a month in the Xinjiang internment camps they serve Laghman and lamb kebobs.
But during that time we have landed probes on comets, sent other one to Saturn, Jupiter, and are still getting data back from Voyager.
Not to mention the landers we have on Mars.
Yes. We slipped, but they are still not close to what we can do and I think the privatization of space launches has actually pushed us forward faster than what the bloated government agency known as NASA could do.
The budget for NASA is $24B this year. This is .037% of the budget of the US.
This is about double the FBI budget which has a fraction of the employees and has yet to launch into space or 1/3 the amount given to the Ukraine since 2022. It’s all about choices.
America used to stuff like this before diversity, pronouns and endless wars.
Guess we will find out if we still do today. If that rocket goes boom instead of whoosh we can hang it up. Just have to make sure the hatch doesn’t come open.
Appears a success so far.
Maybe Elon can show NASA a thing or 2 about building our own rockets again.
No I don’t think that we could consider ourselves as a peer of Chynuh…Don’t think that we are in the habit of stealing (or buying from corrupt politicians) modern technology. Tho we did have a big race with Ivan to “capture” the German scientists and their rocket technology back yonder. Werhner Von Braun was unavailable for comment.
Anyone else think that the Chyneesium spaceship will rock-et down, blasting a tune from a well known Pink Floyd Record?
Chicoms alway be up to no good:
Globalism worked out well. They got all of our technology and we got cheap junky goods that break the second time you use them.
So far the moon goes we now have a pretty good idea about why the two sides are so different.
https://bigthink.com/starts-with-a-bang/moon-two-faces-different/
Interesting. The Chinese are pushing hard to supplant the US as the dominant global power. We are just kicked back on cruise control, not checking the rearview. Underestimating China is a major strategic error.
Deja vu…
Playing hoops off the ring on my friends garage front ,, we used to see the Sputnick fly over back in 1957
I would like to see China spend all their resources building shit to go to Mars. In fact they could move there entire country to Mars. Let them see what kind of resources can be wasted getting to space.
Not just one Runar Randing but TWO Runar Randings!
Some say the cosmonauts encountered alien life forms on the Dark Side…..and promptly ate them.