Author Topic: Chang'e-4 lunar probe and rover - CZ-3B- XSLC - December 7, 2018 (18:23 UTC) (Read 119259 times)

MATTBLAK · « **Reply #100 on:** 10/07/2018 02:59 am »

With the CZ-5 launcher troubles and delays; is this still on schedule or on an alternate launcher?

Galactic Penguin SST · « **Reply #101 on:** 10/07/2018 05:10 am »

Quote from: MATTBLAK on 10/07/2018 02:59 am

With the CZ-5 launcher troubles and delays; is this still on schedule or on an alternate launcher?

This one was never planned for launch on CZ-5. You are probably thinking of Chang'e-5 which is still planned for next year.

Also current rumors gives the launch date as December 8.

MATTBLAK · « **Reply #102 on:** 10/07/2018 05:25 am »

Right, thanks. Looking it up; I can see that the Yutu launcher was the Long March 3B - though of course the clue was in the title...

Phil Stooke · « **Reply #103 on:** 10/07/2018 10:23 pm »

From Twitter (therefore must be corect):

YE Quanzhi
‏ @Yeqzids
21h21 hours ago

Mark your calendar: launch date of #ChangE4 is December 8, per @Skywatcher2018's post on Weibo (can't find a public source of this info, though).

wahaha · « **Reply #104 on:** 10/18/2018 10:45 am »

https://gbtimes.com/online-vote-decides-top-three-names-for-change-4-lunar-far-side-rover

Launch is rumoured to be set for December 8, with a landing around December 30 or 31.

Online vote decides top three names for Chang'e-4 lunar far side rover

The reliability of the new rover has been improved based on lessons from Chang'e-3, which saw Yutu come to a permanent halt after 114 metres. Nevertheless, it continued to carry out its scientific tasks.

The lander and rover will target a landing within the South Pole-Aitken Basin, a huge and scientifically significant impact crater on the far side of the Moon.

The Von Kármán crater is understood to contain the selected landing site, according to a paper published by Huang Jun et al in the American Geophysical Union’s Journal of Geophysical Research: Planets.

Galactic Penguin SST · « **Reply #105 on:** 11/14/2018 01:22 pm »

https://twitter.com/LaunchStuff/status/1062707166719762432

The source is from some organization planning a tour to watch this launch. Also on the Chinese forum I usually visit someone tried to calculate the closest launch window in December 2018 using the same launch and LOI profile as CE-3 and found the optimum launch time as ~18:30 UTC on December 7.

From the same source, apparently lunar night would end over Von Karman crater on December 30 so maybe we will see it land around the New Year?

Galactic Penguin SST · « **Reply #106 on:** 11/16/2018 12:41 am »

Quote from: Galactic Penguin SST on 11/14/2018 01:22 pm

https://twitter.com/LaunchStuff/status/1062707166719762432

The source is from some organization planning a tour to watch this launch. Also on the Chinese forum I usually visit someone tried to calculate the closest launch window in December 2018 using the same launch and LOI profile as CE-3 and found the optimum launch time as ~18:30 UTC on December 7.

From the same source, apparently lunar night would end over Von Karman crater on December 30 so maybe we will see it land around the New Year?

Looks like the currently planned landing date is January 3, 2019.

plutogno · « **Reply #107 on:** 11/16/2018 05:33 am »

MU69 flyby on January 1 and a moon landing two days later... looks like a great way to start the year for planetary exploration!

mcgyver · « **Reply #108 on:** 11/16/2018 02:37 pm »

Quote from: plutogno on 11/16/2018 05:33 am

MU69 flyby on January 1 and a moon landing two days later... looks like a great way to start the year for planetary exploration!

I feel a little overloaded:

26/11/18 Insight landing
03/12/18 Osiris arrival
08/12/18 Chang'e liftoff
01/01/19 New Horizons flyby
02/01/19 Hayabusa 2 operational again
03/01/19 Moon landing

mcgyver · « **Reply #109 on:** 11/29/2018 12:48 pm »

The... "spaceship" Yuanwang 7 sails to prepare for Chang'e4 launch:
https://gbtimes.com/yuanwang-7-space-tracking-ship-sets-sail-to-support-launch-of-change-4-lunar-far-side-mission

plutogno · « **Reply #110 on:** 11/30/2018 05:53 am »

China sets out for the far side of the moon
https://www.sciencemag.org/news/2018/11/china-sets-out-far-side-moon

MATTBLAK · « **Reply #111 on:** 11/30/2018 06:32 am »

GO CHINA!!

Steven Pietrobon · « **Reply #112 on:** 11/30/2018 06:38 am »

Best of luck to China for the launch of Chang'e-4! Its been a long five years since the last Lunar landing, with three landings (Chang'e-4, Chandrayaan 2 and Sparrow) planned in the next few months. With NASA announcing CLPS, there should be a lot more on the way as well. Looks like a new renaissance in Lunar exploration.

MATTBLAK · « **Reply #113 on:** 11/30/2018 07:02 am »

When it comes to manned Lunar spaceflight; it is like a slow turning wheel. The wheel of time is turning and will soon(ish) bring us back to a special point in our lives... Back when those of us old enough to remember, can virtually time-travel back to our youth and hopefully feel again the same way we did in 1969.

Those of you young enough to never have witnessed it first hand in your lives; I almost envy you!

An entire world, three days rocket ride away, waits for human bootprints again. And the exploration of the 99.9% percent never trod can happen at last! I hope...

zubenelgenubi · « **Reply #114 on:** 12/02/2018 06:32 pm »

Bill Gray asks on seesat-l for any available more accurate launch information &/or ephemerides (from the Chinese or via an intermediary), so as to track Chang'e-4: http://satobs.org/seesat/Dec-2018/0005.html , and more particularly, to track the upper stage.

Also mention of wish that the Chinese would coordinate a lunar impact of said upper stage to allow LRO to observe the impact.

TripleSeven · « **Reply #115 on:** 12/02/2018 07:27 pm »

this is a wonderful effort with the Chinese being very generous to the amateur radio community

GELORD · « **Reply #116 on:** 12/03/2018 01:51 am »

http://bbs.9ifly.cn/thread-13029-10-1.html

西昌用于发射嫦娥四号月球探测器的火箭已经上架，将于北京时间2018.12.08 01:30–03:30发射升空

The rocket used by Xichang to launch the Lunar 4th Lunar Detector has been put on the shelves and will be launched at 2018.12.08 01:30–03:30 Beijing time.

Galactic Penguin SST · « **Reply #117 on:** 12/03/2018 03:29 am »

It's not looking good for any good coverage of this mission:

https://twitter.com/Cosmic_Penguin/status/1069447759361728512

Original source of rumor

BTW news on this mission has been sparse lately:

https://twitter.com/Cosmic_Penguin/status/1069447761605550082

One can still hope that we can get real time updates on the landing, but...... $:-\$

JimO · « **Reply #118 on:** 12/05/2018 03:16 am »

Any estimates of early ground track and point of translunar burn? We're looking at pre-sunrise observation opportunities early along the orbital path for fuel dumps and burn plumes.

Galactic Penguin SST · « **Reply #119 on:** 12/05/2018 05:19 am »

Finally we have air space closure zones to confirm the launch date and time (seems to be closer to 18:20 UTC).

A5217/18 (Issued for ZSHA ZGZU) - A TEMPORARY RESTRICTED AREA ESTABLISHED BOUNDED
BY:N260808E1142921-N261444E1140013-N255857E1135553-N255223E1142456 BACK TO START.ALL ACFT ARE FORBIDDEN TO FLY INTO THE TEMPORARY RESTRICTED AREA, ACFT SHALL AVOID THE TEMPORARY RESTRICTED AREA BY ATC. GND - UNL, 07 DEC 18:15 2018 UNTIL 07 DEC 18:36 2018. CREATED: 05 DEC 05:31 2018

A5215/18 - A TEMPORARY RESTRICTED AREA ESTABLISHED BOUNDED
BY:N272159E1083650-N273125E1074313-N271528E1073946-N270603E1083315
BACK TO START.ALL ACFT ARE FORBIDDEN TO FLY INTO THE TEMPORARY RESTRICTED AREA, ACFT SHALL AVOID THE TEMPORARY RESTRICTED AREA BY ATC. GND - UNL, 07 DEC 18:14 2018 UNTIL 07 DEC 18:34 2018. CREATED: 05 DEC 05:27 2018