China to Launch Chang’e-4 Relay Satellite

Toroid

Founding Member
China will launch a relay satellite to the far side of the moon.
https://gizmodo.com/china-to-launch-mission-to-moons-far-side-on-monday-1826140960
China’s mission to explore the Moon’s far side is set to launch in part on Monday (Sunday in the US). As the Guardian reports:

The Chang’e 4 relay satellite will be stationed about 60,000km (almost 40,000 miles) behind the moon and provide a communications link for a rover that is designed to land and explore the lunar far side, which never faces Earth. The relay satellite has been named Queqiao, meaning Magpie Bridge, a name that comes from Chinese folklore in which a flock of magpies forms a bridge over the Milky Way to allow a separated pair of lovers to unite.

The lovers, in this case, are likely the satellite and the upcoming rover. China first announced its plan to land on the Moon’s far side back in 2016. The feat would be a first for humanity—but it’s going to take work.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=bgUTGHUJobo
 

Toroid

Founding Member
China launched a probe to the basin of Von Karman crater on the moon's south pole.
Chinese spacecraft launching today will land on dark side of the moon | Daily Mail Online
Chang'e-4 will launch today at 6:30 GMT from Sichuan in China
  • It will perform a 'soft-landing' in the South Pole-Aitken basin's Von Karman crater
  • A Long March 3B rocket will propel the spacecraft to its 27-day long trip
  • The crater is so deep it is believed it could provide never-before-seen rocks
  • Plans to study the moon's mantle have been described as 'hugely ambitious'

www.youtube.com/watch?v=OrHwSXOv1q0
China’s Chang’e-4 Lander Launches on Mission to the Moon
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Toroid

Founding Member

pigfarmer

tall, thin, irritable
Problem is you launch one of these things and an hour later you want to launch another one.

Ugh. I know. I know ......
 
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