All systems of the new Chinese lunar rover are turned on and are in full alert after the first landing in history on the far side of the moon, the Chinese National Space Administration reported.
Rover Jade Rabbit 2 has successfully established communication via a digital channel with a satellite, through which data is transmitted to Earth at the mission control center located in Beijing, the space agency reported in a publication that appeared on its website last Friday.
The on-board radar and camera for panoramic shooting of the rover were activated and are currently operating in normal mode, this informational message indicates. The photo, published by the agency, shows a rover, who stopped near the place where the Chang’e-4 vehicle landed on Thursday.
The probe Chang’e-4, named after the Chinese goddess of the moon, became the first spacecraft to land on the far side of the moon, always pointing in the opposite direction from the earth, the Chinese space agency reported. In addition, the unit Chang’e-4 also sent pictures taken with its topographic camera to our planet.
Researchers hope that space observations in the radio range at low frequencies from the surface of the far side of the Moon, where radio signals coming from Earth are blocked by dense rocks of the natural satellite of our planet, will help scientists to better understand the early days of the solar system and even the formation of the first stars in the universe.
The far side of the moon has been observed with the help of orbiters several times, but studies of its surface have never been done before. Sometimes the back side of the moon is called the dark side – but not because it is dimly lit by the sun, but because this side of the moon is poorly understood and not accessible to direct observations from Earth.
Chinese lunar rover Jade Rabbit 2 includes equipment, preparing to fulfill its mission
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