China’s Chang’e-4 lunar rover, which is exploring the dark side of the moon, will measure the freezing night temperature, scientists said on Sunday.
Chang’e-4, named after a Chinese moon goddess and comprising a lander and a rover, touched down on the dark side of the moon on January 3, the first-ever soft landing on the far side of the moon by any country.
It was a giant leap for cosmic exploration and a major boost to the Communist nation’s quest to become a space superpower.
Since the moon’s revolution cycle is the same as its rotation cycle, the same side always faces the Earth. The other face, most of which cannot be seen from the Earth, is called the far side or the “dark side” of the moon, not because it is dark, but because most of it is uncharted.
A lunar day equals 14 days on the Earth, and a lunar night is the same length. Temperatures vary enormously between day and night on the moon.
Scientists estimate that the highest temperature during the day might reach 127 degrees Celsius, while the lowest at night could fall to minus 183 degrees Celsius.
In 2013, China launched Chang’e-3, the country’s first spacecraft to soft-land on the moon. The scientific instruments on its lander are still operating after more than 60 lunar nights in the past five years, state-run Xinhua news agency reported.
“It was a success, but Chang’e-3 was designed according to foreign temperature data,” Zhang He, the executive director of the Chang’e-4 probe project from the China Academy of Space Technology (CAST), told Xinhua.
