Jump to content

China to the Moon and...


Recommended Posts

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

"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

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

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

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
×
×
  • Create New...