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It'd better be careful or it'll run off into that crater.
Presumably it's easier and faster to remotely drive a rover on the Moon with an almost 3-second lag compared to one on Mars with an 8-minute or more lag, depending on where Mars is relative to Earth. Or easier than communicating with New Horizons blazing past Pluto with something like a 2 hour lag.
The Russians had a couple nearside rovers back in the '70s, Lunakhod 1 & 2, but they were after the US had several manned Apollo missions under their belt so didn't get a lot of publicity. I think until the Chinese one, they were the only Lunar rovers. They were also the first remote controlled rovers on any other planet or moon.
My understanding is that China's intention is to not rush things too much, and to carefully plan every move to ensure the Rabbit will have a long and successful life exploring the terrain. As you humorously mentioned, they don't want to take any chances of getting stuck or a crater they can't get out of. From the looks of things so far, the terrain where they're located looks pretty smooth, and fewer rocky obstacles. One objective China has mentioned is to look for water ice. I'm not certain this rover will necessarily do that though. That might be plans for future missions. Regardless, it'll be blazing the trail on the far side of the Moon. The far side of the Moon is pretty significant as there's less radio interference from the Earth to conduct space studies. We may see loads of rovers all over the Moon at some point in the future. It'll be interesting to see what China discovers about the far side of the Moon.
It looks like they are busy tracking up the moon! Pretty soon the moon will look like the hills around Barstow CA (our environmental state)! At least they are off and running. I hope that we have many pictures to follow and thank you!
My pleasure. I'm sure we'll be seeing a lot more views ahead. Yeah, the Moon is showing a lot more tracks, and looking a bit like Route 66. Won't be long and we'll start seeing a few expressways under construction.
A century from now China will have cornered the fusion fuel market with Helium-3 produced by their lunar mines, and the fusion reactors that run the solar system will be dependent on them. Oh well, we still have the asteroid belt.
I totally get the excitement factor for this, but I dont know if the same reasons for the original stopping of the Apollo missions will raise their ugly head again. Even though China is less democratic than other countries, it is still influenced by public opinion and other pressures. The first Rabbit died after a lunar night I believe, so they will have put contingencies in place to stop that happening again.
If there is anyone up there on the Moon, they will probably have some reaction to a robot wandering about taking pictures of their bases etc.
Quote:
Originally Posted by davidt1
Although common sense and logic never convinced them before, this time the "aliens-have-bases-on-the-dark-side-of-moon" crowd will look silly once the pictures are available
You and I are just going to have to disagree on this one.
Over the years, I have heard and seen many people who have come out and described craft flying in space. There are some very clever people who are highly skilled and highly educated who agree there is 'something going on' out in space.
Common sense and logic would suggest to me that if enough smoke was seen, then there should be some kind of a fire somewhere making that smoke. Just denying it does not make it all go away, however uncomfortable an issue it is. The ONLY people who are going to look silly are the ones denying the reported evidence.
The same technology and skills that provide driverless cars their abilities will be used to drive the rovers around the Moon/Mars/etc. Mars is a lot further away than the Moon so it takes longer to get a signal there, so I supect the same technology is used with this Rabbit as with the Mars robots. Similarly, the Chinese probably only need command access by humans and leave the immediate terrain mapping to the AI modules. Hopefully we will get some image data before it gets disabled.
A century from now China will have cornered the fusion fuel market with Helium-3 produced by their lunar mines, and the fusion reactors that run the solar system will be dependent on them. Oh well, we still have the asteroid belt.
Possibly? And possibly not: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Helium-3. There is a lot of speculation but the physicist still need more time and they do not know if the process is economically feasible? Of course that could change and a nation, that already did the exploration, could end up as the big winner.
I would presume the highest concentrations of Helium-3 would be locations on the moon that received the most direct sunlight (like Earth's equator). Did this last rover land in one of those locations and does it have the instrumentation to detect Helium-3?
It'll be interesting to see what China discovers about the far side of the Moon.
The far side is similar to the near side. They won't discover anything different unless the instruments they sent are much more powerful then previous instruments sent to the moon, and can look deeper. If that is the case, then looking deeper on the near side will produce the same results. I think they chose the far side for one main reason:
1. To be the first country to explore the far side. It's national pride.
Competition is a good thing. The US space program became strong because we competed against the USSR. Perhaps this new competition will inspire this country to focus our effort and talent on space exploration with the same drive we had before.
Possibly? And possibly not: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Helium-3. There is a lot of speculation but the physicist still need more time and they do not know if the process is economically feasible? Of course that could change and a nation, that already did the exploration, could end up as the big winner.
I would presume the highest concentrations of Helium-3 would be locations on the moon that received the most direct sunlight (like Earth's equator). Did this last rover land in one of those locations and does it have the instrumentation to detect Helium-3?
Instruments onboard the Chang’e lander and rover will aim to study the local lunar geology, probe the moon’s interior, and analyse the solar wind – a stream of high-energy particles that flow from the sun.
Since the solar wind is the source of Helium-3 on the moon, the data may help refine estimates of how much Helium-3 is available for mining. Chang'e 5 and 6 will be sample return missions, BTW.
Since the solar wind is the source of Helium-3 on the moon, the data may help refine estimates of how much Helium-3 is available for mining. Chang'e 5 and 6 will be sample return missions, BTW.
Thank you!
Even though China has broken their government into six branches, once they decide to do something, they do it. If it means relocating a million people; so what! The future of Helium-3 is not clear; but it is clear enough to gamble. The goal is to have a unlimited supply of energy forever and that is not a bad goal. Of course mining the moon would still have many problems.
I thought no one ever landed on the moon...couldn't get thru the radiation belt??
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