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China's Chang'e 4 Spacecraft Lands on the Far Side of the Moon

posted by takyon on Thursday January 03 2019, @02:33PM   
from the yasm dept.

c0lo writes:

Australian Broadcast Corporation:

It is the first time a soft landing has been performed on the Moon's far side — also known as the dark side because it faces away from earth and remains comparatively unknown — due to challenges relaying signals.

The Chang'e 4 spacecraft touched down at 10:26am local time, the official China Central Television said.

Chang'e 4 is a lander-rover combination and will explore both above and below the lunar surface.

Some of the experiments aboard will investigate the Moon's potential to support future space travellers.

One of those experiments is a biosphere project, which includes silkworm eggs, thale cress and potato seeds.

If it goes to plan, the ecosystem would be self-sustaining, with the silkworms germinating the potatoes and popping out caterpillars. These would in turn produce carbon dioxide, helping the plants grow as a food source.

Chang'e 4.

Also at BBC, The Guardian, and CNN.

_{YASM means 'Yet Another Sputnik Moment'}

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Original Submission

• How is this a Sputnik moment? How is this a Sputnik moment? (Score: 1, Touché) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday January 03 2019, @07:48PM (2 children)

  by Anonymous Coward on Thursday January 03 2019, @07:48PM (#781645)

  To call this a Sputnik moment, or even worse, Yet Another that suggests there are a number of other such moments, really shows one's ignorance of what the real Sputnik moment was and meant.

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• Re:How is this a Sputnik moment? Re:How is this a Sputnik moment? (Score: 2) by c0lo on Friday January 04 2019, @03:06AM (1 child)

  by c0lo (156) on Friday January 04 2019, @03:06AM (#781869) Journal

  How is this a Sputnik moment?

  Do you know any other direct experiment in the area of 'living on other planets'? Please share.

  --
  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0 https://soylentnews.org/~MichaelDavidCrawford

  Parent

  • Re:How is this a Sputnik moment? (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday January 04 2019, @06:42PM

    by Anonymous Coward on Friday January 04 2019, @06:42PM (#782167)

    Do you know of any examples from the current zeitgeist of fear and apprehension that we're losing the space race because of this? Is this really a single simplifying event that is captured in all the news "above the fold" that is shocking the world? Can you provide ANY evidence that anyone in the general news or public is surprised or cares about this in any other context besides "hey, that's pretty cool"?

    You prove the point that you clearly don't know what a "Sputnik moment" is. It doesn't mean "do something that hasn't been done before". And to say "yet another", which implies that there are these series of these moments, also proves the point. "Sputnik moments" are not incremental advancements, they are societal-changing events, and this is not a societal-changing event.

    Parent