Feb 03
At last, a good panorama from China’s Chang’e 3 lander. It shows a three-step time-lapse of the Jade Rabbit robotic rover heading south, getting away from its mothership "likely never to return again." Zoom in:
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Dec 02
Just a decade after entering the space race, China is headed to the moon. With the successful launch of a Long March rocket carrying the Chang’e 3 lunar lander earlier this morning, China is attempting to become the third nation in history to land (rather than crash) a spacecraft on the lunar surface.
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Aug 28
China’s state media reports today that the country will send its first ever rover to the moon this December. The government had said a number of times in the past that the launch will take place at the end of this year, as of now the launch appears to be on track. Called the Chang’e-3, it is said that planning and construction of the rover has already been completed and the mission has entered into “launch implementation phase.” This will be China’s first ever unmanned probe landing on the moon. It has previously launched the Chang’e-1 and Chang’e-2 unmanned probes into the orbit around the moon.
The rover will reportedly use an unspecified technique to slow down its speed as it prepares to land on the moon’s surface. It will be launched atop an enhanced variant of China’s CZ-3B launch vehicle from the Xichang Satellite Launch Center. Chang’e-3 has a designed life of 90 lunar days and will be capable of exploring an area of 3 square kilometers. Maximum travelling distance it can cover is 10 kilometers. It has a various types of cameras and radars on board and will be able to autonomously navigate the moon’s surface. Data and image will be transmitted back to Earth in real-time. [image via Dragoninspace]
China Sends It First Rover To The Moon This December original content from Ubergizmo. 
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Jul 31
State news agency Xinhua is reporting that China is planning to launch a probe to the moon in the second half of 2013. The Chang’e-3, named after the Chinese moon goddess, will deposit a lander and rover on our natural satellite to survey its bumpy surface. It’ll launch from the Xichang Satellite Launch Center in Sichuan province and is a sign of the continuing ambition of the nation’s space program — after it deposited a crew on its Tiangong-1 space station two months ago.
Filed under: Transportation, Science
China sending a probe to the moon next year to look for Moonbase Alpha originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 31 Jul 2012 13:44:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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