China decided that they would land a spacecraft on the ‘dark’ side of the moon. No nation has ever done such a thing before.In 1959, the Soviet Luna 3 spacecraft flew around the moon for a look on its ‘hidden’ side and sent back photos to Earth. Before that, no-one had seen what was on the other side of the moon.
In December, 2018 the China National Space Agency (CNSA) is going to launch a chin-high, 2,500-pound lander, called Chang’e-4 to the South Pole-Aitken Basin, at the southern end of the lunar far side. After a couple of weeks, Chang’e-4 will settle on the surface and deploy a small rover to survey the terrain for the first time ever in the history of humankind.
Targeting the moon’s far side is just the latest step in China’s special moon program, which started with Chang’e-1 in 2007 and Chang’e-2 in 2010, followed by the Chang’e-3 probe, whose 2013 landing on the moon was the first since 1976.
Source: www.euronews.com
Photo: www.pixabay.com
