Update 26 Jul 2022: China launches Wentian module to Tiangong space station
China's first lab module for space station
China on Sunday launched Wentian, the first lab module of its space station. The new module will function both as a backup of the core module and as a powerful scientific experiment platform. The Wentian module is 17.9 meters long, has a maximum diameter of 4.2 meters and a takeoff mass of 23 tonnes, almost the size of a subway car in Beijing. It is the heaviest single-cabin active spacecraft in orbit in the world, according to Liu Gang, deputy chief designer of the China manned space program's space station system with the China Academy of Space Technology (CAST).
The Wentian module consists of a work cabin, an airlock cabin and a resource cabin. The Long March-5B Y3 carrier rocket, carrying Wentian, blasted off from the Wenchang Spacecraft Launch Site on the coast of the southern island province of Hainan at 2:22 p.m. (Beijing Time), according to the China Manned Space Agency (CMSA). About 495 seconds later, Wentian separated from the rocket and entered the planned orbit. The launch is a complete success, the CMSA declared.
This is the 24th flight mission since the country's manned space program was approved and initiated. The construction of China's Tiangong space station is expected to be completed this year. It will then evolve from a single-module structure into a national space laboratory with three modules -- the core module Tianhe, and lab modules Wentian and Mengtian. The Tianhe module was launched in April 2021, and the Mengtian module is set to be launched in October this year.
China launches Tianhe module to Tiangong space station
Rendering of Tianhe core module with the robotic arm at docking position
Tianhe (Chinese: 天和; pinyin: Tiānhé; lit. 'Harmony of the Heavens'), officially the Tianhe core module (Chinese: 天和核心舱), is the first module to launch of the Tiangong space station. It was launched into orbit on 29 April 2021, as the first launch of the final phase of Tiangong program, part of the China Manned Space Program (Project 921).
Tianhe follows in the footsteps of Salyut, Skylab, Mir, International Space Station, Tiangong-1 and Tiangong-2 space stations. It is the first module of a third-generation Chinese modular space station. Other examples of modular station projects include the Soviet/Russian Mir, Russian OPSEK, and the International Space Station. Operations will be controlled from the Beijing Aerospace Flight Control Center.
In 2018, a fullscale mockup of Tianhe was publicly presented at China International Aviation & Aerospace Exhibition in Zhuhai. In October 2020, China selected 18 new astronauts ahead of the space station construction to participate in the country's space station project.
China becomes second nation to plant flag on the Moon
The lander deployed a Chinese flag
China has planted its flag on the Moon, more than 50 years after the US first planted the Stars and Stripes there.
The pictures from China's National Space Administration show the five-starred Red Flag holding still on the windless lunar surface. They were taken by a camera on the Chang'e-5 space probe before it left the Moon with rock samples on Thursday.
Two previous Chinese lunar missions had flags on the crafts' coatings - so neither could be affixed to the moon.
related:
China’s Yutu 2 rover has spotted a mystery object on the horizon while working its way across Von Kármán crater on the far side of the moon.
Yutu 2 spotted a cube-shaped object on the horizon to the north and roughly 260 feet (80 meters) away in November during the mission's 36th lunar day, according to a Yutu 2 diary published by Our Space, a Chinese language science outreach channel affiliated with the China National Space Administration (CNSA). Our Space referred to the object as a "mystery hut" (神秘小屋/shenmi xiaowu), but this a placeholder name rather than an accurate description.
Team scientists have expressed a strong interest in the object and Yutu 2 is now expected to spend the next 2-3 lunar days (2-3 Earth months) traversing lunar regolith and avoiding craters to get a closer look, so updates can be expected.
China’s lunar rover Yutu 2 is on a mission to investigate mystery object on far side of the moon
The Chinese lunar rover Yutu 2 is on its way to investigate a cube-shaped object, described as a “mystery hut”, on the far side of the moon.
The mission team of Yutu 2 spotted the object after examining a series of photos taken by the rover, according to Our Space, a science outreach media outlet affiliated with the Chinese space programme.
Mission team notices ‘mystery hut’ while examining series of images taken by the rover on 3 Dec 2021, according to Chinese space media outlet.
‘Mystery hut’ on the far side of the moon
The object known as the cube or mystery hut can be seen here on the moon’s horizon. What is Yutu 2’s ‘mystery hut’? Image via CNSA
China’s Yutu 2 rover has been crawling across the lunar surface since landing in Von Kármán crater on the far side of the moon on January 3, 2019. On December 3, 2021, it logged a strange entry in its Yutu No. 2 Driving Diary. It spied a cube-shaped object on the horizon and nicknamed it the ‘mystery hut.’ The Chinese website Our Space publishes the diary and is affiliated with the China National Space Administration (CNSA).
Additionally, the media outlet CNET picked up the story on December 5, with Space.com following on December 6. CNSA gave the cube the informal nickname of the ‘mystery hut.’ Don’t take it literally that it’s an actual hut. They estimate the cube at approximately 262 feet (80 m) from the rover’s location on its “36th night” at the end of November 2021. It’s perched just inside the edge of a crater almost due north of that location.
Notably, it appears to be roughly cube-shaped, although it is difficult to determine the true shape due to the small size of the object in the image. Right now, it is only a few pixels wide. There seems to be a dark spot in the middle of the object, or it may be two smaller objects close together. The rover team, of course, wants to get a closer look at the object, and Yutu 2 will now start driving toward it.
China's Yutu 2 rover spots a cube-shaped 'mystery hut' on the far side of the moon – but experts say it's probably just a large boulder
A website affiliated with the country's space agency referred to the cube-shaped item as a 'mystery hut', although experts believe it is likely a large boulder excavated by a meteorite
China's lunar rover has spotted a mysterious object on the far side of the moon, and is now on its way to investigate it further. A website affiliated with the country's space agency referred to the cube-shaped item as a 'mystery hut', although experts believe it is likely a large boulder that has been excavated by a meteorite.
The Yutu 2 rover, which almost three years ago arrived with the first spacecraft to ever land on the dark side of the moon, took pictures of the object on the horizon while working its way across the Von Kármán crater.
This side of our lunar satellite is never visible from Earth and, prior to the Chang'e-4 mission, no space probe had ever reached that part of the surface because of communication difficulties.
China is investigating a 'mysterious hut' on the far side of the moon
The 'mysterious hut' appears as a cube-shaped protuberance above the horizon of the lunar surface. (Image credit: CNSA/Our Space)
China's Yutu 2 rover has spotted what Chinese researchers are calling a "mysterious hut" on the far side of the moon.
The rover, whose name means "jade rabbit" in Mandarin, recorded a blurry image of the cube-shaped object as the rover made its way across the moon's Von Kármán crater. Looking to the north on Oct. 29, the mission's 36th lunar day, the rover spotted the "mysterious hut" around 260 feet (80 meters) away, the China National Space Administration outreach program Our Space posted on the Chinese social network Weixin on Dec. 3.
The strange irregularity in the landscape was seen protruding above an otherwise uniform and unremarkable horizon, and there was a small impact crater next to it, Our Space researchers wrote in the statement.
Moon's 'mystery Hut' Spotted By Chinese Rover Nothing But A Rock, Claims Scientist
The case of the ‘mystery hut’, which was spotted by Chinese lunar rover Yutu 2 a few days ago seems to have been solved. The rover, which landed on the Moon in January 2019 under China’s Chang'e-4 mission, sent a picture from the lunar surface of what seemed like a square-shaped outcrop on the far side of the Moon. However, this supposed myth has been busted by Philip Stooke, a professor of geography and space exploration at the University of Western Ontario who says that the structure is nothing but a rock.
"Chinese media are very eager to find all sorts of strange things on the moon. We tend to think they are all tightly controlled and just repeat the party line, but there is a ton of stuff spinning every news item into a sensational headline … alien bases, millions of tons of priceless metals or unspecified substances, conspiracies about western interests in space and everything else", Stooke said as per Space.com. With the new being nothing more than a clickbait, Stooke added that he is not surprised by the presentation of a rock as a hut, due to the low-resolution of images. "Scientifically, the rock could be interesting, and I expect it or nearby rocks on the crater rim to be studied in detail when they reach it early in 2022. But it won't look like a hut", Space.com reported him saying.
It was on December 5 when the Yutu 2 rover spotted the supposedly 'mystery hut' some 80 metres away from it on the 36th day of its mission. The image of the outcrop was shared by Our Space, a science-oriented Chinese channel affiliated with the China National Space Administration (CNSA) and soon turned out to be a center of interest for the scientific community. At the time of the discovery, the rover was at the Von Kármán crater and has currently moved on to investigate the object spotted a few yards away. Interestingly, similar peculiar stuff has been claimed to be discovered on the Moon by China. Previously, the rover reportedly discovered a gel-like substance back in 2019, which actually was a mix of lunar rock and glass that resulted from an impact.
China’s Yutu II spots ‘mystery hut’ on far side of the moon
The photo taken by Yutu II shows the "mystery cabin" on far side of the moon. Photo: Our Space
China's Yutu II moon rover has recently spotted a mysterious cube-shaped object on the moon. Photos it sent back to Earth show that the object looks like a little hut and is located on the horizon on the dark side of the moon.
The rover spotted the object on the horizon to the north and roughly 80 meters away during the mission's 36th lunar day, according to a Yutu II diary published by Our Space, a science outreach channel affiliated with the China National Space Administration (CNSA). It has been referred to as a "mystery hut," but space enthusiasts note that it is just a placeholder name rather than an accurate description.
After telling scientists on Earth about the discovery, Yutu II is already on its way there to find out what the "hut" really is. It is expected to reach its destination after two to three lunar days. The discovery has aroused the interest of netizens on China's Twitter-like platform Sina Weibo, with many saying it reminded them of the palace located on the moon in ancient Chinese mythology -- the Guang Han Palace.
Chinese sighting of 'cube' on moon rouses speculation and inspires memes
A model of the lunar rover Yutu-2 is seen ahead of an exhibition in Changsha, China, in April 2019. A photograph of a cube-like object captured by the rover on the far side of the moon has fanned speculation over what it could be, and inspired a host of memes from Chinese internet users. | REUTERS
A photograph captured by a Chinese rover of a cube-like object on the far side of the moon has fanned speculation over what it could be, and inspired a host of memes from Chinese internet users.
The Yutu-2 caught an image of what seems like a large cubic object on the horizon about 80 meters (87 yards) from its location, said Our Space, a Chinese government science website, citing the rover’s last log on Dec. 3.
Under the hashtag meaning “Yutu’s latest discovery,” a series of internet memes showed the rover rolling over the lunar plain towards a pair of obelisks, a tall monolith and even a giant hammer and sickle — the symbol of the Communist Party. “It’s space junk left behind by the U.S.,” one Chinese internet user wrote in a social media post. “Get a bit closer, and you’d see it’s a nucleic acid test site for COVID-19,” another quipped.
Chinese sighting of ‘cube’ on moon inspires memes
A photograph of a cube-like object captured by a Chinese rover on the far side of the moon has fanned speculation over what it could be and inspired a host of memes by Chinese Internet users. The Yutu-2 caught an image of what seems like a large cubic object on the horizon about 80m from its location, said Our Space, a Chinese government science Web site, citing the rover’s last log on Friday last week.
Under the hashtag “Yutu’s latest discovery,” a series of Internet memes showed the rover rolling over the lunar plain toward a pair of obelisks, a tall monolith, and even a giant hammer and sickle — the symbol of the Chinese Communist Party. “It’s space junk left behind by the US,” one Chinese Internet user wrote in a social media post. “Get a bit closer, and you’d see it’s a nucleic acid test site for COVID-19,” another quipped. “It’s the home of aliens!” a third wrote in mock horror. Others suggested a more mundane possibility — it is just a boulder.
The solar-powered Yutu, or “Jade Rabbit” in Chinese, could cover the distance of 80m in two to three lunar days, or two to three Earth months, Our Space said. The robotic rover has been operating in the Von Karman Crater in the South Pole-Aitken Basin since its deployment in January 2019. The mission was a historic first, with no other nation having landed on the far side of the moon until then.
Ah. We have an update from Yutu-2 on the lunar far side, including an image of a cubic shape on the northern horizon ~80m away from the rover in Von Kármán crater. Referred to as "神秘小屋" ("mystery house"), the next 2-3 lunar days will be spent getting closer to check it out.
Chinese astronauts to deliver live science lesson from space station
China's Shenzhou 13 astronauts are all set to present a science lesson live from the orbiting Tiangong space station on Thursday.
Astronauts Zhai Zhigang, Wang Yaping and Ye Guangfu will begin the class at 2:40 am EST (0740 GMT, 3:40 pm Beijing time) on Thursday (Dec. 9) from inside the Tianhe module, the core (and currently only module) of the Tiangong station. You can watch the live science lesson (in Mandarin) in the window above, courtesy of China's CCTV news outlet. on YouTube.
The class will feature topics including life and work aboard the Tianhe space station module, the behavior of biological cells, how astronauts move in microgravity, water surface tension experiments and more, according to CMSA, China's human spaceflight agency.
China's Tiangong space station
3D illustration of Tiangong, the Chinese space station, orbiting Earth, with Earth in the background. (Image credit: Getty Images)
Tiangong is a space station that the Chinese Manned Space Agency (CMSA) is building in low Earth orbit. In May 2021, China launched Tianhe, the first of the orbiting space station's three modules, and the country aims to finish building the station by the end of 2022. CMSA hopes to keep Tiangong inhabited continuously by three astronauts for at least a decade. The space station will host many experiments from both China and other countries. Tiangong, which means "Heavenly Palace," will consist of Tianhe, the main habitat for astronauts, and two modules dedicated to hosting experiments, Mengtian and Wentian, both of which are due to launch in 2022. Shenzhou spacecraft, launching from Jiuquan in the Gobi Desert, will send crews of three astronauts to the space station, while Tianzhou cargo spacecraft will launch from Wenchang on the Chinese island of Hainan to deliver supplies and fuel to the station.
Tiangong will be much smaller than the International Space Station (ISS), with only three modules compared with 16 modules on the ISS. Tiangong will also be lighter than the ISS, which weighs about 400 tons (450 metric tons) following the recent addition of Russia's Nauka module. The 54-foot-long (16.6 meter) Tianhe module launched with a docking hub that allows it to receive Shenzhou and Tianzhou spacecraft, as well as welcome the two later experiment modules. A large robotic arm will help position the Mengtian and Wentian modules and assist astronauts during spacewalks.
Tianhe is much larger than the Tiangong 1 and 2 test space labs China launched in the last decade and nearly three times heavier, at 24 tons (22 metric tons). The new Tiangong, visiting spacecraft and cargo spacecraft will expand the usable space for the astronauts; so much that they'll feel as though "they will be living in a villa," compared with how little space was available on previous Chinese space labs, Bai Linhou, deputy chief designer of the space station, told CCTV.
related:
Israel aims to be 4th country to land on the moon
SpaceIL’s spacecraft set to land on the moon in April is about 5 feet tall with a diameter of 6.5 feet. (Courtesy of SpaceIL)
He’s spent eight years trying to land a spacecraft on the moon, but when Yonatan Winetraub stood on the launchpad this month at Florida’s Cape Canaveral, he was still in shock.
“I stood right next to the rocket, and it’s pretty big,” Winetraub said in a phone interview Wednesday. “In the video, you don’t see how big the rocket is and how powerful it is. But when you stand up close it’s pretty powerful.”
If Winetraub sounds like a kid marveling at the thought of space travel, that’s because he kind of is. He and two friends, all in their 30s, are on the verge of doing something extraordinary: They intend to make Israel the fourth country to land a spacecraft on the moon. Only the United States, the Soviet Union and China have done it.
related:
