The first ever close-up of the moon’s surface on its far side, transmitted by China’s Chang’e-4 lunar probe, has appeared on front pages of numerous newspapers back on Earth.
The picture was shot with a camera-pointing system tailor-made by a team of optical experts at the Hong Kong Polytechnic University for China’s lunar endeavors.
Joining this groundbreaking mission was Professor Yung Kai-leung of PolyU’s Department of Industrial and Systems Engineering, whose team developed a camera-aiming system mounted on the upper part of the probe’s lander.
The system is capable of moving vertically by 120 degrees and rotating by 350 degrees to capture high-definition images of the moon as well as facilitating movement of the lunar rover, the Yutu (Jade Rabbit).
It is not the first time the system has been deployed to take sharp photos of the moon’s surface: It was first used in 2013 on the Chang’e-3, which landed on the moon’s Mare Imbrium crater.
The university also developed an innovative lunar topographic mapping and geomorphological analysis system that facilitated the selection of Chang’e-4’s landing site.
The selection of a safe landing site on moon’s far side – the hemisphere that always faces away from Earth – was one of the major tasks for the mission.
Dr Wu Bo, of the university’s Department of Land Surveying and Geo-Informatics, led a team and conducted site selection for the Chang’e-4 in a project funded by the China Academy of Space Technology.
His team analyzed a huge amount of lunar remote sensing data from multiple sources and created high-precision and high-resolution topographic models of the northwestern South Pole-Aitken basin, where Chang’e-4 landed at noon on Thursday Beijing time.
These models cover terrain slopes, crater distribution, rock abundances, and geological history of the region as well as terrain occlusion to sun illumination and telecommunication. These analyses helped the China National Space Administration choose a number of optimal landing sites for the Chang’e-4 within the basin.
The two PolyU teams will also contribute to the mission of the Chang’e-5, slated for launch at the end of this year.
The new probe will consist of an orbiter and a lander and is set to be China’s first sample-return mission, aiming to bring at least 2 kilograms of lunar soil and rock samples back to Earth.
Read more: The Great Gig in the Sky: China on the dark side of the moon
China is a meritocracy and Hong Kong is also welcomed to contribute. There are no glass ceilings nor ivory towers where anglo saxons are privileged like in USA, UK, Australia, ie. the 5 eyes regimes.
China is a meritocracy and Hong Kong is also welcomed to contribute. There are no glass ceilings nor ivory towers where anglo saxons are privileged like in USA, UK, Australia, ie. the 5 eyes regimes.
No other country had yet to at the far side of the moon. Can you claim China copy the US technology. Can the Bullock cart in front of the American cow?The real facts is the China scientific ,engineer had master ,catching up all the technology even beyond some of the technology ahead of the US. The Chinese learn,study hard ,innovate deep hard ,research in-depth at any part of University at US,China etc. Until now produce million technical personal expert to challenge the Western high tech from learning process not just copy.Don’t predict wrong by the many,most western analyst-businesses before. In the history, China was the powerful county before,China fall because of the foreigner interfering, influence with sweet talk,attack,humiliate,corrupt destabilize,chaos to Chinese land especially the Japan attack china twice. Follow by the British -opium war, Italy ,French US Germany ,even very small country like Portuguese,Knowledge is power acquire from Chinese brain -invented gunpowder,compass,magnet, and many more to name. Why can’t other country have the brain, can copy the US technology- US had top security secret, can’t get info at all. So the Chinese do not copy their ,but learn ,absorb the principle of any technologies by heart.
No other country had yet to at the far side of the moon. Can you claim China copy the US technology. Can the Bullock cart in front of the American cow?The real facts is the China scientific ,engineer had master ,catching up all the technology even beyond some of the technology ahead of the US. The Chinese learn,study hard ,innovate deep hard ,research in-depth at any part of University at US,China etc. Until now produce million technical personal expert to challenge the Western high tech from learning process not just copy.Don’t predict wrong by the many,most western analyst-businesses before. In the history, China was the powerful county before,China fall because of the foreigner interfering, influence with sweet talk,attack,humiliate,corrupt destabilize,chaos to Chinese land especially the Japan attack china twice. Follow by the British -opium war, Italy ,French US Germany ,even very small country like Portuguese,Knowledge is power acquire from Chinese brain -invented gunpowder,compass,magnet, and many more to name. Why can’t other country have the brain, can copy the US technology- US had top security secret, can’t get info at all. So the Chinese do not copy their ,but learn ,absorb the principle of any technologies by heart.