6 February 2019
On 30 January, “NASA’s Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) approached the Von Kármán crater from the east, it rolled 70 degrees to the west to snap this spectacular view looking across the floor toward the west wall. Because LRO was 330 kilometers (205 miles) to the east of the landing site, the Chang'e 4 lander is only about two pixels across (bright spot between the two arrows), and the small rover is not detectable.”
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also compare the story by Mike Wall on Space.com
NASA Probe Spots China's Chang'e 4 Lander on Far Side of the Moon (Photo)
02 February 2019
With the historic success of its Chang’e 4 lunar mission, China opened a new chapter in lunar exploration and sent a clear declaration of intent about its long-term ambition to send astronauts back to the Moon. European countries, which will gather this year to agree on ESA’s future programmes, now need to carefully reflect on the consequences of Chinese lunar plans and define what role they want to play in the post-ISS space exploration context.
This ESPI Brief sheds outlines the possible implications brought by China’s expanding ambitions in the field human spaceflight and discusses European preparedness to cope with such implications.
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02 February 2019
For us, the GoTaikonauts! team, it was the most remarkable photo of the New Year and is remains for us the photo of Chang'e 4's landing on the far side of the Moon when one of the ground staff at the Beijing Aerospace Control Center (BACC) in Beijing went emotional and media captured her tears. (and here) Now we know who it was: Zhang He - Executive Director of the project and staff of China Academy of Space Technology. Chinese media revealed her story.
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01 February 2019
The research paper on quantum communication involving the Quantum Experiments at Space Scale (QUESS) satellite will receive the 2018 Newcomb Cleveland Prize as it laid the groundwork for ultra-secure communication networks of the future. The American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) announced on 31 January that a team of 34 Chinese physicists led by Pan Jianwei with the University of Science and Technology of China had won the award that will be delivered on 14 February. The Newcomb Cleveland Prize, AAAS' oldest award, has honored the most impactful research paper published in the journal Science since 1923.
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01 February 2019
China has achieved real-time transmission of deep-sea data at 6,000-meter depth through Beidou satellites for the first time, according to the Institute of Oceanology under the Chinese Academy of Sciences. It is one of the breakthroughs Chinese scientists onboard research vessel Kexue, or "Science", made during its latest mission into the West Pacific. The scientists have also upgraded the country's scientific observation network in the West Pacific.
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31 January 2019
The rover and the lander of the Chang'e 4 probe have been awakened by sunlight after a staying in "sleep mode" during the first lunar night, China National Space Administration (CNSA) announced on 31 January. The key instruments started operating automatically. The lander ended the dormant state on 30 January at 20:39 h, and the rover, Yutu 2 (Jade Rabbit-2), awoke at about 20:00 h on 29 January. Currently, the rover is located about 18 meters northwest of the lander.
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Chang'e 4 temperature readings for the far side of the Moon say: - 190ºC
31 January 2019
"According to the measurements of Chang'e 4, the temperature of the shallow layer of the lunar soil on the far side of the Moon is lower than the data obtained by the U.S. Apollo mission on the near side of the moon," said Zhang He, Executive Director of the Chang'e 4 probe project, from the China Academy of Space Technology.
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