China lands on far side of the moon

[mindlight]

China mission lands on Moon's far side

The Chinese space programme seems to be setting the pace right now. Bring on Elon Musk!

 

[mukk_in]

What did NASA and the Euro Space Agency miss? Is there anything worthwhile to explore on the dark side of the Moon? Anyway, my congratulations to the Chinese.

 

[Nithavela]

What did NASA and the Euro Space Agency miss? Is there anything worthwhile to explore on the dark side of the Moon? Anyway, my congratulations to the Chinese.

There's a crater on the far sight on the moon that might have some matter from inside the moon, which might help in figuring out the origins of the moon.

 

[mukk_in]

Just curious as to why NASA didn't think it was important. Budget cuts? .

 

[GoldenBoy89]

 

[Nithavela]

Just curious as to why NASA didn't think it was important. Budget cuts? .

NASA is more focused on its Mars mission, as well as deep space exploration, with dozens of probes flying around without the public taking any notice because they wont reach their goal in years.

 

[(° ͡ ͜ ͡ʖ ͡ °) (ᵔᴥᵔʋ)]

What did NASA and the Euro Space Agency miss? Is there anything worthwhile to explore on the dark side of the Moon? Anyway, my congratulations to the Chinese.

Ever watch The Transformer movies? There is an ancient secret Decepticon spaceship on the dark side of the moon.

 

[mukk_in]

NASA was the first to get to the Moon. It's not about Mars missions now. The question is why didn't NASA think it was important to land on the Dark side of the Moon back in 60s and 70s? There's only reason I can think of, politics/funding.

Yes, I watched all three transformers, only once. That's how entertaining they were.

 

[Nithavela]

NASA was the first to get to the Moon. It's not about Mars missions now. The question is why didn't NASA think it was important to land on the Dark side of the Moon back in 60s and 70s? There's only reason I can think of, politics/funding.

Yes, I watched all three transformers, only once. That's how entertaining they were.

Because to send a man to the moon, one needs a pretty good idea of where they are going. On our side, we just need a good telescope to figure that out. On the back side of the moon (which is actually brighter, just turned away from us) its a bit more difficult. The first good pictures rolled in during 1965 (from a russian probe, by the way) and it wasn't until 2010 that we had mapped out the far side of the moon as well as we have the near side.

Back then, the theories on the origins of the moon (which this mission is trying to support) were still being developed, too.

Also, the aim in the 60s and 70s was less about research and more about propaganda efforts.

 

[mukk_in]

Yeah, NASA would've had the far side-data long before 2010 (and the Chinese) and could have launched well before China, had they wanted to. Politics/budget cuts. I've done some contract work for NASA as a Grad student. They're pretty quick to scrap unprofitable projects. This could've been one of those. In any event, I reiterate my congratulations to the Chinese and hope their data is useful to all of us.

 

[Kenny'sID]

China mission lands on Moon's far side

It's all staged and the earth is flat.

 

[mindlight]

What did NASA and the Euro Space Agency miss? Is there anything worthwhile to explore on the dark side of the Moon? Anyway, my congratulations to the Chinese.

The craft they have sent has a low-frequency radio spectrograph and geological research tools. So basically they are looking at what is there with a view to the long term exploitation of the moon. There is talk of Helium 3 mining and telescopes that do not have earthshine and noise to compete with for instance.

But the significant thing from my perspective is the speed with which they are closing the gap with NASA and now coming up with firsts - this is the first soft landing on the far side of the moon. This is a part of coherent plan in which Chinas earth based interests and space based interests are all a part of. They develop new technologies, hope to achieve technical parity with American space systems and these will all ultimately bring benefits to Chinas long term prospects and security.

 

[essentialsaltes]

NASA was the first to get to the Moon. It's not about Mars missions now. The question is why didn't NASA think it was important to land on the Dark side of the Moon back in 60s and 70s?

It's not so much about importance as feasibility, as the moon is what we scientists call a large solid object. If we landed people on the far side, we wouldn't be able to communicate with them, and we couldn't watch them on TV until they got back. No fun at all! If we landed a probe there, it wouldn't be able to send any data back. Even less fun.

The current Chinese mission is enabled by a relay satellite at a Lagrange point in the earth-moon system. While I suppose that wasn't impossible for NASA in the Apollo age, there were easier paths to take.

 

[RDKirk]

Ever watch The Transformer movies? There is an ancient secret Decepticon spaceship on the dark side of the moon.

Actually, there is a secret Nazi base on the dark side of the moon.

Iron Sky (2012) - IMDb

(And how many of you probably thought this thread couldn't go Godwin?)

 

[RDKirk]

I
The current Chinese mission is enabled by a relay satellite at a Lagrange point in the earth-moon system. While I suppose that wasn't impossible for NASA in the Apollo age, there were easier paths to take.

Aha! I was wondering about that.

 

[durangodawood]

Actually, there is a secret Nazi base on the dark side of the moon.....

 

[mindlight]

Good article in CNN on this theme

China's far side of the moon mission is just the start of its space ambitions - CNN

 

[Ironhold]

NASA is more focused on its Mars mission, as well as deep space exploration, with dozens of probes flying around without the public taking any notice because they wont reach their goal in years.

There are also those who would argue that during the Obama administration the agency got a little *too* focused on recruitment efforts and tangential matters and almost lost sight of some of its actual objectives.

 

[Nithavela]

There are also those who would argue that during the Obama administration the agency got a little *too* focused on recruitment efforts and tangential matters and almost lost sight of some of its actual objectives.

I will be happy when it gets back to the really important matter of enabling human nations to fight each other in space.

Space force!

 

[Dkh587]

Nobody has ever landed on the moon.