China's first lunar rover lands on moon

China's first lunar rover Jade Rabbit on the moon

A SPACE module carrying China's first lunar rover landed on the moon on Saturday (14/12/2013), state television showed, the first soft landing on the moon in nearly four decades and a major step for the emerging superpower's ambitious space program.

Scientists burst into applause as a computer generated image representing the spacecraft was seen landing on the moon's surface via screens at a Beijing control centre, state broadcaster China Central Television (CCTV) showed, 12 days after Chang'e-3 blasted off on a Long March-3B carrier rocket.

China is set to become just the third country to carry out a moon rover mission, following the United States and former Soviet Union, which also made the last soft landing on the moon 37 years ago.




Rocket launch, module landing and rover release

The probe touched down on an ancient 400-kilometre wide plain known in Latin as Sinus Iridum, or The Bay of Rainbows.

The landing was previously described as the "most difficult" part of the mission by the Chinese Academy of Sciences in a post on Chang'e-3's microblogging page on Sina Weibo.

The probe used sensors and 3D imaging to identify a flat surface. Thrusters were then deployed 100 metres from the lunar surface to gently guide the craft into position.

Giant leap for China - photograph taken by Chang'e-3

The landing marks the latest step in an ambitious space program which is seen as a symbol of China's rising global stature and technological advancement, as well as the it's success in reversing the fortunes of the once impoverished nation.

news.com.au