BEIJING, Dec 8, 2018 (BSS/AFP) – China launched a rover early Saturday
destined to land on the far side of the moon, a global first that would boost
Beijing’s ambitions to become a space superpower, state media said.
The Chang’e-4 lunar probe mission — named after the moon goddess in
Chinese mythology — launched on a Long March 3B rocket from the southwestern
Xichang launch centre at 2:23 am (1823 GMT), according to the official Xinhua
news agency.
The blast-off marked the start of a long journey to the far side of the
moon for the Chang’e-4 mission, expected to land around the New Year to carry
out experiments and survey the untrodden terrain.
“Chang’e-4 is humanity’s first probe to land on and explore the far side of
the moon,” said the mission’s chief commander He Rongwei of China Aerospace
Science and Technology Corp, the main state-owned space contractor.
“This mission is also the most meaningful deep space exploration research
project in the world in 2018,” He said, according to state-run Global Times.
Unlike the near side of the moon that is “tidally locked” and always faces
the earth, and offers many flat areas to touch down on, the far side is
mountainous and rugged.
It was not until 1959 that the Soviet Union captured the first images of
the heavily cratered surface, uncloaking some of the mystery of the moon’s
“dark side”.
No lander or rover has ever touched the surface there, positioning China as
the first nation to explore the area.
“China over the past 10 or 20 years has been systematically ticking off the
various firsts that America and the Soviet Union did in the 1960s and 1970s
in space exploration,” said Jonathan McDowell, an astronomer at the Harvard-
Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics.
“This is one of the first times they’ve done something that no one else has
done before.”
– Next up: humans –
It is no easy technological feat — China has been preparing for this
moment for years.
A major challenge for such a mission is communicating with the robotic
lander: as the far side of the moon always points away from earth, there is
no direct “line of sight” for signals.
As a solution, China in May blasted the Queqiao (“Magpie Bridge”) satellite
into the moon’s orbit, positioning it so that it can relay data and commands
between the lander and earth.
Adding to the difficulties, Chang’e-4 is being sent to the Aitken Basin in
the lunar south pole region — known for its craggy and complex terrain —
state media has said.
The probe is carrying six experiments from China and four from abroad.
They include low-frequency radio astronomical studies — aiming to take
advantage of the lack of interference on the far side — as well as mineral
and radiation tests, Xinhua cited the China National Space Administration as
saying.
The experiments also involve planting potato and other seeds, according to
Chinese media reports.
Beijing is pouring billions into its military-run space programme, with
hopes of having a crewed space station by 2022, and of eventually sending
humans to the moon.
The Chang’e 4 mission is a step in that direction, significant for the
engineering expertise needed to explore and settle the moon, McDowell said.
“The main thing about this mission is not science, this is a technology
mission,” he said.
– ‘National pride’ –
Chang’e-4 will be the second Chinese probe to land on the moon, following
the Yutu (“Jade Rabbit”) rover mission in 2013.
Once on the moon’s surface, the rover faces an array of extreme challenges.
During the lunar night — which lasts 14 earth days — temperatures will
drop as low as minus 173 degrees Celsius (minus 279 Fahrenheit). During the
lunar day, also lasting 14 earth days, temperatures soar as high as 127 C
(261 F).
The rover’s instruments must withstand those fluctuations and it must
generate enough energy to sustain it during the long night.
Yutu conquered those challenges and, after initial setbacks, ultimately
surveyed the moon’s surface for 31 months. Its success provided a major boost
to China’s space programme.
Beijing is planning to send another lunar lander, Chang’e-5, next year to
collect samples and bring them back to earth.
It is among a slew of ambitious Chinese targets, which include a reusable
launcher by 2021, a super-powerful rocket capable of delivering payloads
heavier than those NASA and private rocket firm SpaceX can handle, a moon
base, a permanently crewed space station, and a Mars rover.
“Our country’s successful lunar exploration project not only vaults us to
the top of the world’s space power ranks, it also allows the exploration of
the far side of the moon,” said Niu Min, an expert on China’s space
programme.
The project, he said in an interview with local website Netease, “greatly
inspires everyone’s national pride and self-confidence”.