The Chang'e-4 Made Its Historic Landing And Sent The First Photo From The Dark Side Of The Moon

For the first time in the history of space flight and the entire humanity, we have a spaceship landing on the other side of the moon.

At 10:26 AM, January 3, 2019, in Beijing (6:26 PM PT, January 2, 2019), the Chang’e-4 achieved this milestone. The Chinese space agency managed to land its spacecraft in Von Karman crater which is located on the far side of the moon. The official announcement went public at 12 PM Beijing (8 PM PT) via China Central Television (CCTV).

A few hours after landing, the Chang’e-4 sent back to us the first photo it took of the moon’s surface via the relay satellite Magpie Bridge (Queqiao).

The first photo sent back from the other side of the Moon

The Chang’e-4 consists of a lander and a six-wheel rover. On December 12, the spaceship entered the moon’s orbit and then landed in an elliptical orbit around the moon, which helped decrease the distance between the craft and the planet to only 15 kilometers.

Unlike the historic NASA’s Mars mission in November and its flyby of the Kuiper Belt Object 2014 MU69 on New Year’s Day, the landing of Chang’e-4 was not broadcast. The news was announced on the social network Weibo instead. China’s media agencies also posted the news on Twitter, but the posts were removed shortly after.

The Chang’e-4 faces challenges on its own

According to journalist Andrew Jones, who reports on China’s space program, the landing of Chang’e-4 needed laser ranging as well as optical cameras to navigate and avoid coarse hazard and velocity. This meant the Chang’e-4 had to do everything on its own using its critical scientific payload.

Chang'e-4 also sent a photo of the landing process

Also known as the dark side of the moon, this half still receives sunlight but never faces our Earth due to tidal locking. As a result, maintaining radio contact for communication from here is such a challenge, especially if we’re to bring humans.

To contact with the rover, in May, Queqiao – the relay satellite – was launched into a halo orbit over the moon’s far side. Queqiao will help the Chang’e-4 call home and send scientific to the Earth via the relay.

The Chang'e-4's missions

The lander and rover each have three cameras attached and other instruments that will help China study the geology of Von Karman.

Scientists believe that in the South Pole-Aitken (SPA) Basin, the 13-kilometer-deep ancient crater, there are materials from deep down the moon’s soil that will help us understand what the planet is made of. Also, the lander brings silkworm eggs and seeds with the mission to find out if these two forms and develop on the planet.

Furthermore, the Chang’e-4 carries other instruments that have been developed by German and Swedish engineers, allowing it to research the solar wind and charged particles burst from the atmosphere of the Sun. Saudi Arabia and Netherlands partners also provided payloads on this lander.