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Watch Chinese Landing on Moon's Far Side (Awesome Video!)


Thu 17 Jan 2019 | 02:23 PM
Yassmine Elsayed

By: Yassmine ElSayed

CAIRO, Jan. 17 (SEE) - A widespread spectacular new video gives a lander's-eye view of the first-ever touchdown on the moon's mysterious far side.

The nearly 3-minute video was captured by China's Chang'e 4 mission, which landed inside the 115-mile-wide (185 kilometers) Von Kármán Crater on the night of Jan. 2. Chang'e 4 consists of a stationary lander and a six-wheeled rover, which the mission team has named Yutu 2. (The original Yutu was the rover on the Chang'e 3 mission, which landed on the moon's near side in December 2013.)

The Chang'e 4 lander and rover carry eight scientific instruments between them, which the spacecraft are using to characterize the surface and near subsurface of Von Kármán's floor. The mission's observations should shed light on the structure and evolutionary history of the moon, Chinese space officials have said.

Such data could also help scientists understand why the far side, which always faces away from Earth, is so different than the near side. For example, dark volcanic deposits called maria cover much of the near side surface but very little of the far side.

https://youtu.be/GwDYN5J5chA