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Touchdown! China’s Chang’e 3 Lands on the Moon
Rover Will Roll Off Sometime This Evening
by bob king
You can settle back with your cup of coffee knowing that the Chinese moon lander successfully touched down on the lunar surface this morning at 7:11 a.m. (CST). The lander’s descent camera recorded a safe touchdown in the Bay of Rainbows, a 160-mile-wide (257 km) lava flooded relic crater in the moon’s northern hemisphere.
Chang’e 3′s onboard optical and microwave sensors guided the spacecraft during its final few hundred feet to the surface. At about 15 feet (4.5 m), the lander’s thrusters switched off and Chang’e 3 free fell the rest of the way to avoid kicking up too much moon dust.
The lander touched down in Sinus Iridium or Bay of Rainbows near the crater Laplace A. The bay, a 160-mile-wide lava-flooded, relic crater, is easily visible in a pair of binoculars from waxing gibbous through last quarter phase. – John Chumack (left) and NASA
The rover, named Jade Rabbit, will roll down a ramp from the lander sometime this evening. On Sunday, word has it that each will take pictures of the other. The rover can travel up to 660 feet (200 m) an hour. The name comes from the ancient Chinese myth about the moon goddess Chang’e and the bunny known as Jade Rabbit she befriended there.
In an era when it takes months and years to arrive at places like Mars and Jupiter, it’s almost shocking that the Chinese mission, launched less than two weeks ago, will soon touch lunar soil.
Of course, the moon’s so much closer than any planet, it’s a no-brainer to get there in a hurry, but it’s been so long since we’ve visited the place, it makes me wonder why we haven’t considered putting rovers up there sooner and as routinely as we send them whizzing off to Mars.
The lunar surface closes in as China’s lander and rover descend to the moon earlier this morning. – CCTV
Few would deny Mars is a bigger, juicier target than old Luna. Naturally, it comes down to money. With only so much, you have to pick and choose your missions. That’s why I get a kick whenever a new country joins the space exploration race. I don’t care if it’s national pride, testing of technology or whatever. Just shoot the probe up there and get some science done. Oh, and don’t forget to send us a postcard. Preferably every day.
I shouldn’t complain too much about the lack of recent moon missions. NASA’s Lunar Atmosphere and Dust Environment Explorer (LADEE) safely arrived in lunar orbit in October and the next month starting sniffing out lunar argon, potassium and sodium and recording moon dust even at high altitudes. But there’s nothing like a rover to make you feel like you’re right there clomping around on the ground.
We humans have an insatiable appetite for new worlds. Ever since our ancestors left Africa some 100,000 years ago, we’ve wondered what’s around the next bend. Next November the European Rosetta probe will deploy a tiny robot to land on Comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko; in July 2015 New Horizons will fly by Pluto and its handful of moons. Bring it on!
Yutu – Jade Rabbit – rolls down a metal ramp from the lander to the lunar surface. – CCTV
On Dec. 10, mission control at the Chinese National Space Agency (CNSA) fired thrusters on Chang’e 3 to change its 62-mile-high circular orbit to an elliptical one with a low point 9.3 miles (15 km) high over the landing target in the Bay of Rainbows. Rocket engines fired again a final time Saturday at 7:10 a.m. 10 minutes later, the craft made a soft landing on the moon.
To prevent it from smashing into rocks on the way down, the lander was equipped with terrain recognition equipment to help it automatically avoid obstacles like the boulders Neil Armstrong had to steer the Apollo 11 craft around before he and Buzz Aldrin made their historic touchdown on July 20, 1969.
With the trouble-free landing, the rover, nicknamed “Yutu” or Jade Rabbit, will roll down from the lander on a ramp and onto the surface. Both probes will run on solar energy during the 2 week long lunar day; during the equally long night, when temperatures can drop to -280 F (-173 C), radioisotope heater units will keep them warm enough to operate even in the deep chill.
Three panoramic cameras facing different directions and one descent camera outfit the lander, while the rover boasts two panoramic cameras, two navigation cameras and two hazard avoidance cameras (much like the Mars Curiosity Rover). Naturally, the moon itself will be the No. 1 science target, but scientists will also take pictures of celestial objects in the lunar sky and study everything from distant galaxies to Earth’s plasmasphere with a 6-inch (150mm) telescope sensitive to ultraviolet light.
Stay tuned for more pictures and news.
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About the Author: Bob King (a.k.a. Astro Bob) is a journalist at the Duluth News Tribune in Duluth, Minnesota. You can find more of his space news coverage on the Astro Bob blog.
Source: http://moonandback.com/2013/12/14/touchdown-chinas-change-3-lands-on-the-moon/
