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China has launched a rover to the hidden side of the moon in an ambitious bid to become the world’s first to explore the lunar “dark side”.
The Chang’e 4 lunar probe mission blasted off on a Long March 3B rocket from the Xichang Satellite Launch Center in southwest China in the predawn hours yesterday, according to China’s official state-run press agency, Xinhua.
The rover is expected to land around New Year’s Day to carry out experiments and explore the untrodden terrain.
The probe is carrying six experiments from China and four from abroad, including low-frequency radio astronomical studies – aiming to take advantage of the lack of interference on the far side – as well as mineral tests, and experiments for planting potato and other seeds, local media reported.
THE DARK SIDE
Unlike the near side of the moon which is “tidally locked” and always faces Earth, and offers many flat areas to touch down on, the far side is mountainous and rugged.
It wasn’t 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 touched that surface before, positioning China as the first nation to explore the terrain.
Professor Ouyang Ziyuan of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, the chief scientist of the Chinese Lunar Exploration Programme, said the biggest challenge will be establishing communication with the far side of the moon, which is unreachable by direct signal and is invisible from Earth.
“We will be like deaf and blind,” he said.
As a solution, in May China 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.
China is pouring billions into its military-run space programme, with hopes of having a crewed space station by 2022 and eventually sending humans to the moon.
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 will face an array of extreme challenges. During the lunar night, which lasts 14 Earth days, temperatures will drop as low as minus 173°C, while during the lunar day, also lasting 14 Earth days, temperatures will rocket as high as 127°C.
Instruments must withstand those fluctuations and generate enough energy to sustain the rover 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 for 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 targets, including a reusable launcher by 2021, a superpowerful 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.
