Well, 'around' December.
Repeating the November story:http://gbtimes.com/china/china-attempt-moon-sample-return-mission-novemberShould this thread migrate over to the science thread? After all, China's space science accomplishments are now increasingly in the same league as those of NASA and ESA.
Well, I thought that maybe the people reading and posting to this thread might have some views about whether it should move, and they should sound off before the hand of god steps in and simply makes a move.I have issues with everything being classified by "launchers" anyway, since a lot of what China is doing is best categorized in other ways, not simply because of the rockets.
Should this thread migrate over to the science thread? After all, China's space science accomplishments are now increasingly in the same league as those of NASA and ESA.
I do not want to belittle the achievements of the Chang'E missions in any way, they are very impressive and yes, they are certainly catching up with NASA/ESA - but it seems to me that these missions are still rather achievement driven, not science driven.
You can also see that from the fact that the missions were announced long before the target regions were
My preference is to leave this thread here as this is a short term mission, ranging from one to three weeks.
Quote from: Steven Pietrobon on 01/24/2017 04:20 amMy preference is to leave this thread here as this is a short term mission, ranging from one to three weeks.If NASA approves its own sample return mission, it will be of a similarly short duration. But I don't think it will be covered under US launch vehicles in this forum.
Quote from: vjkane on 01/24/2017 03:17 pmQuote from: Steven Pietrobon on 01/24/2017 04:20 amMy preference is to leave this thread here as this is a short term mission, ranging from one to three weeks.If NASA approves its own sample return mission, it will be of a similarly short duration. But I don't think it will be covered under US launch vehicles in this forum.The mission will be covered on the Chinese section before launch, then moved to the Live Coverage section for launch and then the scientific mission will possibly be moved to the Space Science Coverage section.
I'm looking forward to this historic and excellent mission. Lunar Exploration is too much on the back burner. I hope it helps inspire the concept of further manned missions someday.
Won't they be sampling the Atkins Basin? That's probably terrific science.