Chang'e 4

[Dalhousie]

Mildly surprised that that nobody has mentioned the Chan'e 4 mission currently  on the way to the moon for the first landing attempt since the successful Chang'e 3 landing in 2013.

Chang'e 4 will attempt a lunar far side landing and deploy a rover.  There is also a relay satellite in EM-L2, Quegiao, already in place.  This nice little video shows the whole mission sequence https://pbs.twimg.com/ext_tw_video_thumb/1071741340134850560/pu/img/kXwG9c9d_iYtGVjd?format=jpg&name=small

The launch video can be viewed at

[onebigmonkey]

Very much looking forward to seeing how this turns out. China will have boots on the ground before long.

[bknight]

Very much looking forward to seeing how this turns out. China will have boots on the ground before long.

At least someone is forward looking. 

[raven]

Well, congrats to the scientists and engineers involved. I wish them all the best on this venture. I can't wait to see the results!

[Peter B]

And the great thing about sending spacecraft to the Moon: you don't have to wait months or years for them to get there.

[QuietElite]

I can already see the CT's hand-waving again because China won't find a Apollo landing site on the far side of the moon 

[Dalhousie]

Now in lunar orbit http://www.planetary.org/blogs/guest-blogs/2018/change-4-lunar-orbit.html

[molesworth]

I can already see the CT's hand-waving again because China won't find a Apollo landing site on the far side of the moon 

Of course not - they've gone there to photograph all the alien bases... 

[Dalhousie]

Link by the Queqiao relay satellite in L2 established.  Artcie also has a lovely photo of the Earth and the Moon from a Saudi camera onboard one of the accompanying cubesats

https://gbtimes.com/change-4-lander-makes-contact-with-queqiao-relay-satellite-from-lunar-orbit

[Dalhousie]

Landing attempt in the next few hours https://www.nextbigfuture.com/2019/01/chinas-change-4-spacecraft-will-land-on-dark-side-of-the-moon-in-the-next-60-hours.html

[molesworth]

Landing attempt in the next few hours https://www.nextbigfuture.com/2019/01/chinas-change-4-spacecraft-will-land-on-dark-side-of-the-moon-in-the-next-60-hours.html

Thanks for the update.  It's an exciting few days, between Chang'e 4 and New Horizons 

[bknight]

First image from the far side of the Moon after lander touched down.  Congratulations to the China Space Agency.

https://www.space.com/42883-china-first-landing-moon-far-side.html

[onebigmonkey]

I managed to match the area on the landing sequence they've released with the LRO imagery:



The coordinates in the centre are -45.4564, 177.5963.

[bknight]

I managed to match the area on the landing sequence they've released with the LRO imagery:



The coordinates in the centre are -45.4564, 177.5963.

Kinda in the SW corner area with one medium crater leading to three more in a NE direction?

[Dalhousie]

Good report here, note it uses Chang'e 3 images to illustrate surface operations, presumably because it was written before the rabbit escaped it's hutch.

https://www.nasaspaceflight.com/2019/01/china-returning-moon-change-4-mission/