FROM EIR DAILY ALERT

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Chang’e-4 Is Closing In on the Moon, Aims To Make First Far Side Landing

Dec. 11, 2018 (EIRNS)—China’s Chang’e-4 spacecraft carried out a trajectory maneuver correction two days ago, and another is scheduled for tomorrow, Andrew Jones reports for the GBTimes site. The corrections set the spacecraft on target for the landing site. Communications to track the spacecraft’s progress through deep space are carried out through ground stations in China and also in Namibia and Argentina. The Southern Hemisphere ground stations are needed when the spacecraft is not visible from China. This is why NASA has a large ground station complex in Australia.

Once the lander is on the far side, communication will be via the relay satellite that was launched in May. Jones expects insertion of Chang’e-4 into lunar orbit tomorrow, and landing to take place once the landing site is at the start of the two-week lunar day, at the end of this month.