{"id":6612,"date":"2019-01-03T18:03:54","date_gmt":"2019-01-03T18:03:54","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/durbinnepal.com\/en\/?p=6612"},"modified":"2019-01-03T18:03:55","modified_gmt":"2019-01-03T18:03:55","slug":"china-becomes-space-superpower","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/durbinnepal.com\/en\/2019\/01\/03\/china-becomes-space-superpower\/","title":{"rendered":"China becomes space superpower"},"content":{"rendered":"

Beijing, January 3:<\/span><\/span> Chinese lunar rover landed on the far side of the moon on Thursday, in a global first that boosts Beijing’s ambitions to become a space superpower.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

The Chang’e-4 probe touched down and sent a photo of the so-called “dark side” of the moon to the Queqiao satellite, which will relay communications to controllers on Earth, China’s national space agency said on its website.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Beijing is pouring billions into its military-run space program, with hopes of having a crewed space station by 2022, and of eventually sending humans to the moon.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

The Chang’e-4 lunar probe mission — named after the moon goddess in Chinese mythology — launched in December from the southwestern Xichang launch center.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

It is the second Chinese probe to land on the moon, following the Yutu (Jade Rabbit) rover mission in 2013.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Unlike the near side of the moon that offers many flat areas to touch down on, the far side is mountainous and rugged.<\/span><\/span> <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

The moon is “tidally locked” to Earth in its rotation so the same side is always facing Earth.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Chang’e-4 is carrying six experiments from China and four from abroad, including low-frequency radio astronomical studies — aiming to take advantage of the lack of interference on the moons’ far side.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

The rover will also conduct mineral and radiation tests, the China National Space Administration has said.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

“It’s a very good start,” said Wu Weiren, chief designer of China’s lunar exploration program, in an interview with state broadcaster CCTV. “We are now building China into an aerospace power.”<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Beijing is planning to send another lunar lander, Chang’e-5, later this year to collect samples and bring them back to Earth.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

It is among a slew of ambitious Chinese targets, which include a reusable launcher by 2021, a super-powerful rocket capable of delivering payloads heavier than those NASA and private rocket firm SpaceX can handle, a moon base, a permanently crewed space station, and a Mars rover. (AFP)<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Beijing, January 3: Chinese lunar rover landed on the far side of the moon on Thursday, in a global first that boosts Beijing’s ambitions to become a space superpower. The Chang’e-4 probe touched down and sent a photo of the so-called “dark side” of the moon to the Queqiao satellite, which will relay communications to controllers […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":9,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[34,44,1,35],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/durbinnepal.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6612"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/durbinnepal.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/durbinnepal.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/durbinnepal.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/9"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/durbinnepal.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6612"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/durbinnepal.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6612\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6613,"href":"https:\/\/durbinnepal.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6612\/revisions\/6613"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/durbinnepal.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6612"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/durbinnepal.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6612"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/durbinnepal.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6612"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}