China, shooting for the moon

[Eric Mc]

It's down to around 30 miles above the surface - which is about half the altitude of the Apollo Command Module.

[maffski]

Eric Mc said:

Simpo Two said:

Those photos were taken by 'Apollo astronauts' - ie not taken from Earth, but probably on the way back to the the Command Module.

Exactly.

The artefacts left by men on the moon are easily visible from 60 miles above the lunar surface. They are not visible AT ALL from 250.000.

It depends how loosely you define visible - we've been looking at some of them for decades http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lunar_Laser_Ranging_e...

[Eric Mc]

I plead a special case for those

[jmorgan]

Really is interesting how that is achieved and what is seen back on erf.

[MartG]

There was an interesting comment made on Facebook ( by an American ) about the news of China's 5 year space plan - they commented that they expected China to stick with its plan and achieve all the goals stated in it, unlike the US where no space plan survives a year without being cancelled or getting its budget cut to zero

[Frankeh]

MartG said:

There was an interesting comment made on Facebook ( by an American ) about the news of China's 5 year space plan - they commented that they expected China to stick with its plan and achieve all the goals stated in it, unlike the US where no space plan survives a year without being cancelled or getting its budget cut to zero

The advantages of not having 4 year terms up to a maximum of 8 years.
Also the advantage of a prospering country that doesn't have to pander to its population.

I swear that democracy (AKA giving stupid people the right to decide things) stunts growth in so many areas.

[Seeker UK]

Eric Mc said:

Still not taken from earth though.

Agreed, but wherever the camera, we have the means to detect activity on the moon.

[MartG]

Seeker UK said:

Eric Mc said:

Still not taken from earth though.

Agreed, but wherever the camera, we have the means to detect activity on the moon.

But only if we know pretty much exactly where to look - remember the Moon has similar surface area to the whole of Africa ( just to leave the door open to the 'alien base on the moon' nutters )

[Eric Mc]

And at the moment it is impossible to beam live images back from the far side.

[Seeker UK]

Eric Mc said:

And at the moment it is impossible to beam live images back from the far side.

Or any signal so it's likely, for safety, that any manned mission to the moon will not be on the far side.

[jmorgan]

Lagrangian 2 (L2).... maybe?

[MartG]

jmorgan said:

Lagrangian 2 (L2).... maybe?

IIRC there is something called a halo orbit where a communications satellite could be placed so it is visible from most of farside as well as from earth

[Eric Mc]

Various schemes have been proposed which would allow communication with a mission on the surface of the back side - manned or unmanned. I am sure some sort of communication satellite or spacecraft wuill eventually be launched to enable this at some point in the future.

[Caruso]

jmorgan said:

Lagrangian 2 (L2).... maybe?

Sounds like the Chinese already have a craft there?

SpaceflightNow said:

Controllers dispatched Chang'e 2 from lunar orbit to a position at the L2 libration point a million miles from Earth, the furthest distance any Chinese probe has ever traveled from Earth.

http://spaceflightnow.com/news/n1201/09chinamoon/

[Eric Mc]

Read that this morning.

They're up to something - I can feel it in my bones.

[MartG]

Eric Mc said:

Read that this morning.

They're up to something - I can feel it in my bones.

Hmmm - it would be a considerable triumph for them if they were the first to land a probe on the farside