Page 69 - The 'X' Chronicles Newspaper - Jan-Feb 2018, Vol 27, No 1

From The Pages Of Fringe News 69

China to become world’s

first nation to land on

dark side of the Moon

www.express.co.uk

CHINA is to go where no man has gone before
as it gears up an ambitious project to send a
mission to the dark side of the Moon.

One side of the Moon is always facing
Earth thanks to the gravitational pull of tides on
Earth, a process known as “tidal locking”.
No organization has ever managed to
send a probe to the other side of the Moon due
to the communication difficulties it presents –
signals would struggle to reach it from Earth
meaning there would be a lack of why no human has spent longer than three days inflatable habitat to orbit the moon.
communication. there. And scientists say the plan puts humans
However, China is now trying to But by using the underground tubes as a a step closer to living on Mars.
overcome that feat and send a probe to the dark base, the surface of the moon overhead would go The potential lunar satellite will
side of the Moon. someway to protecting people. hopefully be launched in 2022 and could one
The mission comprises of two parts Lava tubes are channels carved out day serve as a moon depot.
known collectively as Chang’e 4. naturally by flowing lava. Once the lava has Bigelow Aerospace is designing two
The first will see a relay satellite sent to stopped, it can sometimes form a hollow tube B330 expandable modules while ULA is tasked
the dark side of the Moon to establish a suitable with hard crusts around the edges. with providing the Vulcan rockets which will get
communication link and will be launched in In a location known as the Marius Hills the B330s into Earth’s orbit.
June. on the moon, there are a series of lava tubes Once the B330 is in Earth’s orbit, the
Once the link has been established, which stretch for kilometres. fitted cryogenic propellors will blast it towards
China will then send a lander to the surface. Junichi Haruyama, a senior researcher at the moon.
By achieving this, China will have JAXA, Japan's space agency, said: "It's Bigelow Aerospace president Robert
beaten the achievements of the US and Russia important to know where and how big lunar lava Bigelow said: "We are excited to work with
and confirm Beijing as a major player in the tubes are if we're ever going to construct a lunar ULA on this lunar depot project.
space exploration game. base. "Our lunar depot plan is a strong
Brian Harvey, space analyst and author "But knowing these things is also complement to other plans intended to
of China in Space: The Great Leap Forward, important for basic science. We might get new eventually put people on Mars.
said: “The Chinese are pushing back the frontier types of rock samples, heat flow data and lunar “It will provide Nasa and America with
with such a technically challenging mission.” quake observation data.” an exciting and financially practical success
Zou Yongliao of the Chinese Academy Scientists believed lava tubes existed, opportunity that can be accomplished in the
of Sciences' moon exploration department, has but have not been confirmed until now. short term.
previously said by landing a probe there will The experts at JAXA discovered them by “This lunar depot could be deployed
“fill a void” in experts’ understanding of the using radar data from the SELENE spacecraft – easily by 2022 to support the nation's re-
universe. a Japanese lunar orbiter – and combined it with energised plans for returning to the Moon.”
This is because the dark side of the information from GRAIL – A Nasa project to It comes after Nasa and Russian space
Moon has a "clean electromagnetic collect high quality information on the moon. agency Roscosmos's announcement last month
environment, which provides an ideal field for Jay Melosh, a GRAIL co-investigator confirming plans to team up to create a lunar
low frequency study. If we can place a frequency and distinguished professor of earth, space station that will act as a “gateway to deep
spectrograph on the far side, we can fill a void”. atmospheric and planetary sciences at Purdue space”.
Essentially, if a telescope is planted on University, said: "They knew about the skylight The Nasa-led program will see the two
the dark side of the Moon, it would block out in the Marius Hills, but they didn't have any idea space agencies build a lunar satellite much like
stray signal interference from Earth. how far that underground cavity might have the International Space Station (ISS) that can
This would give scientists an gone. home astronauts and will orbit the moon.
unprecedented view of outer space. [] "Our group at Purdue used the gravity Dubbed the Deep Space Gateway, the
data over that area to infer that the opening was station will allow astronauts to study the moon
Chance for humans to live part of a larger system. in close detail and will also be used a pit-stop for
“By using this complimentary technique astronauts travelling farther out into the solar
in underground city on of radar, they were able to figure out how deep system, particularly Mars.

MOON after discovery of and high the cavities are." [] Roscosmos said in a statement: “The
partners intend to develop international
lava tubes Revealed: Scientists to technical standards which will be used later, in
particular to create a space station in lunar orbit.
send INFLATABLE home “Roscosmos and Nasa have already
SCIENTISTS have identified a series of tubes agreed on standards for a docking unit of the
on the moon which could home a future to orbit MOON
future station.”
UNDERGROUND city.
onstruction is set to begin on the project
A PRIVATE company has announced plans to in 2022, with the first modules of the Deep
With scientists desperate to set up camp
send an inflatable habitat to orbit the moon in Space Gateway envisioned to be completed two
on the moon, they have identified a series of
what is a major step towards housing humans years later.
tunnels to overcome obstacles faced.
on Mars.
The moon has no atmosphere, so it is
More From The Pages of Finge News
unable to protect potential inhabitants from the
US firm Bigelow Aerospace is teaming up with (Continued on Page 70)
likes of radiation and meteor impacts, which is
the United Launch Alliance (ULA) to send an