China mission to the far side of the moon...maybe tonight

flatbutt · 01-02-2019, 04:28 PM

I hope they release photos

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-6547947/Chinese-spacecraft-touch-dark-moon-TONIGHT-historic-landing.html

The Synergizer · The Synergizer's Garage

Hope they like Pink Floyd...

legion · 01-02-2019, 04:39 PM

There is no dark side of the moon, really. Matter of fact, it's all dark.

red-beard · red-beard's Garage

I don't know, I was really drunk at the time...

ckelly78z · 01-02-2019, 04:57 PM

Breath, breath in the air !

onewhippedpuppy · 01-02-2019, 05:05 PM

I hear if you start The Wizard of Oz at the right time....

stealthn · 01-02-2019, 07:02 PM

I’m sure it will all be staged in a studio...

red-beard · red-beard's Garage

If the lander is on the far side of the moon, how are they going to communicate with it? Do they have a set of lunar orbital relays?

Remember, the Chinese set a lander down a few years back. DOA.

red-beard · red-beard's Garage

So the "relay" satellite will be at Lagrange point 2 or L2. L2 communication with the earth is completely blocked by the moon...

L2 is considered a great place to put radio telescopes since the moon blocks radio signals from the earth.

Norm K · 01-02-2019, 07:32 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by onewhippedpuppy

I hear if you start The Wizard of Oz at the right time....

Second roar of the MGM lion. Tried it about 20 years ago to see if the rumors were true. Kinda cool, actually.

_

A930Rocket · 01-02-2019, 08:08 PM

Does it have headlights?

tcar · 01-02-2019, 08:57 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ckelly78z

Breath, breath in the air !

Why do so many people misspell Breathe....???

Pazuzu · 05:43 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by red-beard

So the "relay" satellite will be at Lagrange point 2 or L2. L2 communication with the earth is completely blocked by the moon...

L2 is considered a great place to put radio telescopes since the moon blocks radio signals from the earth.

NO. The L2 point is a stable locus, so you can put a spacecraft in a halo orbit around it, which is what they did. That halo can be large enough that you can get a direct view of the Earth, which is what they did.

Edit: my mistake, the L2 is an unstable locus, but can have a stable halo orbit. Also, it's important to make sure that we understand that this is a Lunar L2 point, there is a Solar L2 point as well, which is where the new Space telescope is going to be.