Photo of the back of the moon released by the Chinese probe

China’s unmanned probes launched in 2018, Chang’e 4 and rover, Yuu-2, are still active as of January 2020, more than a year after landing. These probes attract attention by revealing mass photos of the back of the moon.

On January 3, 2019, there were reports that the unmanned probe Changeo 4, launched by China, landed in the Antarctic Eitoken Basin, which is the back of the moon as seen from Earth. This was the first successful lunar landing in the world.

Since it is difficult for the Earth to directly communicate with Changeo 4 on the back of the moon, communication with Changeo 4 is carried out through a broadcasting satellite located between the Moon and the Earth’s Lagrange Point. The moon’s first morning and night cycle corresponds to the 29th of the Earth, and about two weeks are the days when sunlight continues to reach, and there is a night without sunlight for nearly two weeks. Therefore, the Changeo 4 and Okrabbit 2, which run using solar energy, have been active for two weeks in a row and then turned off for two weeks over a period of one year.

Through this process, on January 3, China released photos of the back of the moon that Changeo 4 and Jade Rabbit 2 had taken for a year. The published photographic data includes high-resolution images taken by Changeo 4’s landing camera and terrain camera, and Okrabbit 2’s panoramic camera.

Jade Rabbit No. 2 has been driving the Ponkalman Crater, located inside the Antarctic Eitoken Basin, for 350m. It can be said that the photos taken by these probes are important to investigate the appearance of the back of the moon, which has been hardly revealed so far. Pictures of the surface of the moon taken by Changeo 4 and Okrabbit 2 can be downloaded from the official website.

China is expected to launch Changeo 5 in late 2020. Changeo 5 plans to return to Earth for research by collecting samples from the lunar surface, not from the back of the moon. If Changeo 5 succeeds in the mission, it will succeed in sampling after the Soviet Luna 24 launched in 1976. Related information can be found here .