360-degree panoramic photos taken by a camera installed on the top of the lander (Image by CNSA)
China's Chang'e-4 probe took panoramic photos on the lunar surface after it successfully made the first ever soft-landing on the far side of the moon.
The China National Space Administration (CNSA) Friday released the 360-degree panoramic photos taken by a camera installed on the top of the lander.
The images were sent back via the relay satellite Queqiao, which was operating around the second Lagrangian point of the earth-moon system, about 455,000 km from the earth, where it can see both the earth and the moon's far side.
Scientists have made a preliminary analysis on the terrains and landform surrounding the probe according to the panoramic pictures.
Chang'e-4 probe touched down on the Von Karman Crater in the South Pole-Aitken Basin in the morning of Jan. 3, and the lunar rover Yutu-2 drove onto the lunar surface late that night.
Then the rover took a "nap" as the solar radiation raised the temperature on the lunar surface to over 100 degrees centigrade. It restarted to work on Thursday.
The lander, the rover and the relay satellite are in good condition, said CNSA. (Xinhua)
A panoramic image of the far side of the moon sent from the Chang’e 4 lunar probe. [Photo provided by China National Space Administration]
The moon's geological history is more complex than previously thought, preliminary results from China's first lunar rover, Yutu, suggested Thursday. Ground-penetrating radar measurements taken by Yutu, also known as Jade Rabbit, revealed at least nine subsurface layers beneath its landing site, indicating that multiple geologic processes have taken place there.
China is planning to land its Chang'e-4 probe on the moon's "dark side", which has never before been explored, Wu Weiren, the chief engineer for China's Lunar Exploration Program told Chinese Central Television. "We probably will choose a site on which it is more difficult to land and more technically challenging…Our next move will probably see some spacecraft land on the far side of the moon," Wu said.
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