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Congratulations on the first soft landing of China's probe on the far side of the moon!

Congratulations on the first soft landing of China's probe on the far side of the moon!

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NEWS
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2019/01/19 10:58
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[Abstract]:
At10:26onJanuary3,2019,Chang'e-4probesuccessfullylandedinVonKarmanCraterinSouthPole-AitkenBasinonthefarsideofthemoon,whichwasthefirstsoftlandingoftheprobeonthefarsideofthemoon.InsightChang'e-4probe,wh

At 10: 26 on January 3, 2019, Chang'e-4 probe successfully landed in Von Karman Crater in South Pole-Aitken Basin on the far side of the moon, which was the first soft landing of the probe on the far side of the moon.

Insight

Chang'e-4 probe, which was developed by China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation, successfully landed at the preselected landing area near 177.6 degrees east longitude and 45.5 degrees south latitude on the far side of the moon. Magpie Bridge relay satellite sent back the world's first photo of the far side of the moon taken at a short distance, which began to unlock the secrets of the ancient far side of the moon. The mission realized the first soft landing of probe on the far side of the moon and the first successful relay communication between the far side of the moon and the earth, which opened a new chapter in human's lunar exploration.

Compared with Bay of Rainbows landing area of Chang'e 3 probe which is comparatively flat, Aitken Basin is rugged, with densely distributed large-area craters. This is more demanding of the selection of the landing area and landing accuracy of the probe. Because the landing area is on the far side of the moon, the lander and rover can't directly communicate with the earth. Therefore, a relay satellite shall be adopted. Besides, during powered lowering, the lander can't have direct communication with the earth either, so the uplink & downlink operations can only be realized through the relay satellite. All these are the difficulties of the mission.

 

Source: Xinhua News Agency, official WeChat of China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation