NASA’s Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) spotted China’s lander and rover on the far side of the Moon. Chang’e 4 is exploring the floor of Von Kármán crater after landing on the Moon on January 3. The 110-mile-wide (180-kilometre) crater is in the southern hemisphere which never faces the Earth.
The Chang’e 4 mission includes a stationary lander and mobile rover, each carrying cameras and scientific instruments.
The two vehicles were built as spares for China’s Chang’e 3 mission, which was the first Chinese lunar lander, touching down on the near side of the moon in December 2013.
Chinese officials repurposed Chang’e 4 with new scientific instruments and sent it to the far side of the moon.
A communications satellite launched by China last year relays signals between Earth and Chang’e 4.
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The far side of the Moon has a very different appearance.
An increase or craters and rugged terrain are in the area.
Chang’e 4 will be exploring a site in Von Kármán crater that was filled with basaltic lava excavated from a nearby crater.
Principal investigator for the LOR camera, Mark Robinson, wrote on his blog: “Chang’e 4 will collect compositional measurements of these far side basaltic rocks, and lunar scientists are anxiously awaiting these results.
“Do volcanic rocks on the far side differ from the basalts collected from the near side? We will have to wait and see!
“According to CNSA (the China National Space Administration), Chang’e 4 instrumentation includes the visible near infrared spectrometer (VNIS) which takes measurements that can be used to address this question.
“This new information from the surface will provide important ground truth, while the combination of on-surface and orbital measurements provides synergy that will advance knowledge of the far side.”
The LRO which approaching its tenth anniversary in orbit has surveyed the moon’s surface and searched for evidence of water ice, finding signs of cold pockets.