Chris James Posted January 15, 2016 Report Share Posted January 15, 2016 http://www.msn.com/en-us/news/technology/china-shoots-for-first-landing-on-dark-side-of-the-moon/ar-BBoeDX0?li=BBnbfcL&ocid=LENDHP Finally someone will explore the dark side of the moon and...wait a minute...this isn't going to work is it? Explore, sample, and perhaps photograph up close someplace we have never seen, but how are we going to know? Not sure they can broadcast a signal back to Earth from the far side of the moon. Might work if they have a satellite in orbit but it doesn't say that. Anyone have ideas? Link to comment
Lugnutz Posted January 15, 2016 Report Share Posted January 15, 2016 Isn't the dark side always changing? Link to comment
Chris James Posted January 15, 2016 Author Report Share Posted January 15, 2016 "If the Moon didn't spin at all, then eventually it would show its far side to the Earth while moving around our planet in orbit. However, since the rotational period is exactly the same as the orbital period, the same portion of the Moon's sphere is always facing the Earth." This is what Google says. I suppose the little rover they show in the article could broadcast images and data back up to the delivery vehicle rotating around the moon and thus send it back to Earth...but the article doesn't say that. If we wrote stories as incomplete and lacking in information as this article then no one would want to read our work. Media sucks;. Link to comment
Cole Parker Posted January 15, 2016 Report Share Posted January 15, 2016 When we put men on the moon, the return module circled the moon waiting for the men who went down to come back up. They obviously saw the back side. As I recall, they said they actually saw the house where the man in the moon lives! C Link to comment
ChrisR Posted January 15, 2016 Report Share Posted January 15, 2016 So if they're landing to take photographs of the dark side of the moon, won't they need to carry a shiteload of flashcubes? Link to comment
Hoskins Posted January 15, 2016 Report Share Posted January 15, 2016 It won't matter once they find the alien base and are reduced to carbon atoms, anyway. Link to comment
Rutabaga Posted January 15, 2016 Report Share Posted January 15, 2016 All our bases are belong to them? R Link to comment
ChrisR Posted January 16, 2016 Report Share Posted January 16, 2016 These aren't the bases you're looking for. These aren't the bases we're looking for. Link to comment
FreeThinker Posted January 16, 2016 Report Share Posted January 16, 2016 The "dark" side of the moon is the wrong term. It's the far side. Because the moon rotates at the same rate that it orbits the earth, it keeps one face toward the earth at all times. However, just as sunlight moves across the face of the near side, so too does it move across the far side. The correct term is the "far side." (It was still a good album, even if it was misnamed). Also, the Chinese will use an orbiting mother craft to relay data back and forth between earth and the landing craft. Link to comment
ChrisR Posted January 16, 2016 Report Share Posted January 16, 2016 So this side is a circle and the Dark Side (er, Far Side) is a Triangle? Totally tubular! Link to comment
JamesSavik Posted January 16, 2016 Report Share Posted January 16, 2016 We've seen the Dark Side. It's been thoroughly mapped by probes and there really isn't much there that's any different from the side that always faces us. What the dark side would be really good for would be to put a radio observatory as it is always radio dark from earth based emissions all the time. Link to comment
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