Author Topic: LIVE: Chang'e-3 lunar probe and rover Lunar Landing December 14, 2013  (Read 717559 times)

Offline AJA

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Not see any cinnamon trees in the photos yet.

Well, I'm going to hazard a guess that a and a spoonful of moon-dust will have the same physiological effect on a human being. #AncientChineseWisdom


And... the on-topic part of this post: Is either one of those two probes going to take a picture of the Earth? Have they already? (If the high-gain antenna is fixed to the camera.. and they're pointing in the same direction.. then the rover should be able to get live footage... WHILE roving! :D )


Come to think of it.. anyone know if the J-class Apollo missions ever shot footage with the Hasselblads from (and showing) the rover, a changing lunascape, with the Earth in the sky? The fact that all the sites/locations were always well on the near side would make me think that the Earth would've been too high up in the sky to show up in the FOV.


But over 3 months... Yutu can definitely grab such a shot. :D #Drool
« Last Edit: 12/15/2013 02:59 pm by AJA »

Offline dodo

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Another screenshot from CCTV

Offline lcs

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Not see any cinnamon trees in the photos yet.

And... the on-topic part of this post: Is either one of those two probes going to take a picture of the Earth?

The Earth will be a thin crescent as seen from the moon at this time and fairly close to the sun.
« Last Edit: 12/15/2013 03:02 pm by lcs »

Offline Phillip Clark

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One reason for the mutual photography could be to calibrate the cameras since they know the colours of the rover and descent stage.
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Offline groovy

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Pic of Change 3
« Last Edit: 12/15/2013 03:05 pm by groovy »

Offline waja2000

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from CCTV live, Lander picture .

Offline lcs

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One reason for the mutual photography could be to calibrate the cameras since they know the colours of the rover and descent stage.

If the current color balance is correct (and the Chinese flag color looks correct to me) this dark chocolate lunar regolith reminds me of the Apollo 17 site.

Offline Jeff Lerner

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Might be just the angle of the shot, but the rover looks to be quite close to that crater or depression..That seems quite aggressive of the rover drivers to me ...or would that have been an autonomous drive ? ...they've obviously practiced on  Earth but still, they've just landed and  I would think they need to get a feel for handling of the rover on the lunar surface.

Offline AJA

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OK...some info from that interview.

Ground penetrating radar is operating, and they've gotten back some observations.
They're not planning on heading in the direction of the crater.


Currently solar angle is ~ 30 degrees.


The rover's going to go into hibernation from the 16th to the 23rd - because it's too hot to work during the lunar noon
(Rover taking a cat-nap according to the anchor... surely a rabbit nap?)

Offline Phillip Clark

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I don't recall that the Lunokhod rovers required a midday siesta.   Maybe it is Chinese caution.
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Offline jumpjack

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And... the on-topic part of this post: Is either one of those two probes going to take a picture of the Earth? Have they already? (If the high-gain antenna is fixed to the camera.. and they're pointing in the same direction.. then the rover should be able to get live footage... WHILE roving! :D )
That's what I've read somewhere it is going to happen!  :) HD-3D live footage from the moon!  :o


Come to think of it.. anyone know if the J-class Apollo missions ever shot footage with the Hasselblads from (and showing) the rover, a changing lunascape, with the Earth in the sky? The fact that all the sites/locations were always well on the near side would make me think that the Earth would've been too high up in the sky to show up in the FOV.

It will be quite hard to take a picture including earth and moon due to different light, I think.



The rover's going to go into hibernation from the 16th to the 23rd - because it's too hot to work during the lunar noon
(Rover taking a cat-nap according to the anchor... surely a rabbit nap?)
I wonder if Yuyu will get a rest under Chang'e shadow till the noon pass.

Anyway, this is the schedule for next operations appeared on youtube:
-- Jumpjack --

Offline Galactic Penguin SST

Apparently a better version of the descent camera "slideshow" has just been shown on TV.... let me see if I can get it to here.....  8)
Astronomy & spaceflight geek penguin. In a relationship w/ Space Shuttle Discovery. Current Priority: Chasing the Chinese Spaceflight Wonder Egg & A Certain Chinese Mars Rover

Offline AJA

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OK.. a news bulletin now says that the rover's going to circle the lander with a radius of 10m to take pictures of the lander from all the directions (2 shots of the side of the flag -- one from 10m and the other from 18m).


Apparently the Chinese President and Vice President were there for the image transmissions today.


And they've cut to other news.


Btw, the CNSA web-page for the lunar program's outdated. What's the agency that needs to be contacted for imagery data, and how long is the proprietary use period? I ask because I assume that agency will have a webpage for the dissemination of the raw images etc.


Then again, we're just assuming they're calibrated images... CNSA might want to do some post-processing before releasing the image files. The http://forum.nasaspaceflight.com/index.php?topic=33511.msg1132545#msg1132545]instrumentation details for the PanCam and the MastCam in the forum post don't mention whether the camera is operating with three separate channels (different filters - be it physical or electronic, but using the same focal plane array), or if its a Bayer filter. Anyone? If it's the former, then changing exposure values between successive images might throw off the colour etc.



It will be quite hard to take a picture including earth and moon due to different light, I think.

The Earthrise films seemed to have no problem. The Apollo ones, and Kaguya (I don't remember any other probe doing one, but most likely they all would have). Yes, these were both orbital, and the ground wouldn't have filled up a lot of the frame.. Anyway, the Earth isn't exactly a dull object. Plus, you can set two different exposure levels because of the two cameras and merge the images (they're going to for the 3D anyway).. so I think this is really feasible.
« Last Edit: 12/15/2013 03:42 pm by AJA »

Offline lcs

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I don't recall that the Lunokhod rovers required a midday siesta.   Maybe it is Chinese caution.

The LCRU TV system on the Apollo 15-17 rovers was always overheating due to dust on the radiators.  They all ultimately overheated and died around lunar noon.   Recall the CSM/LM stack had a slow spin to avoid temperature extremes.  No spinning allowed on the surface.

Offline jumpjack

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Currently I see phase "A" completed: turn 180° and take a snapshot.
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Offline robertross

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Apparently a better version of the descent camera "slideshow" has just been shown on TV.... let me see if I can get it to here.....  8)

That would be fantastic!

Offline Galactic Penguin SST

Apparently a better version of the descent camera "slideshow" has just been shown on TV.... let me see if I can get it to here.....  8)

That would be fantastic!

Amazing video stitched from images from the descent camera!  ;D

http://news.cntv.cn/2013/12/15/VIDE1387092680807230.shtml

(will try to get it to Youtube later)
Astronomy & spaceflight geek penguin. In a relationship w/ Space Shuttle Discovery. Current Priority: Chasing the Chinese Spaceflight Wonder Egg & A Certain Chinese Mars Rover

Offline lcs

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Come to think of it.. anyone know if the J-class Apollo missions ever shot footage with the Hasselblads from (and showing) the rover, a changing lunascape, with the Earth in the sky? The fact that all the sites/locations were always well on the near side would make me think that the Earth would've been too high up in the sky to show up in the FOV.


I recall that on one stop at South Massif on Apollo 17 where the rover was on a sharply inclined slope, the TV camera did momentarily catch a shot of the Earth and the Massif together. 
« Last Edit: 12/15/2013 03:29 pm by lcs »

Offline Apollo-phill

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Couple of questions that are "niggling" me :-

1) On rover deployment . was the Yutu "pushed" to the ramp before lowering OR did it roll to the ramp before it was lowered.  Certainly discern wheels rolling once on ramp but I could not decide whether they were rolling while it moved from top Change'3 platform ?

2) After all the investigations and images of Sinus Iridum by Change'2 and the pre-released information for Change'3 by Chinese, why did they decide to land at least one (if not two) revolutions earlier - thus landing in Mare Imbrium ?  My current thinking is that this earlier landing allowed for wider TV coverage by the likes of CCTV during Chinese prime TV time  whereas one or two later revolutions would have put it just before and/or after midnight Beijing time. But,really, I cannot see the mission control folk wanting to "bow" to TV pressure unless directed from "above" ?

whatever the reason, I'm still excited they landed successfully at their first soft landing attempt and that the Yutu is rolling around Mare Imbrium. At least geological information it gathers can be compared to ther Mare Imbrium landing site geology data from previous lander missions by other countries.


Phill

Offline Chris Bergin

Good work guys. I know we have GP and others scouring the Chinese forums, but
Apparently a better version of the descent camera "slideshow" has just been shown on TV.... let me see if I can get it to here.....  8)

That would be fantastic!

Amazing video stitched from images from the descent camera!  ;D

http://news.cntv.cn/2013/12/15/VIDE1387092680807230.shtml

(will try to get it to Youtube later)

Good work GP. Some of these Chinese sites result in my PC having a fit, so if we can grab and accredit with linkage, that will work.
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