an update on Chang'e 2:
China's second moon orbiter Chang'e-2 sends data from 1.7 mln km away

the release is accompanied by a nice graph (in Chinese)

what next for CE-2?
according to this interview (in Chinese) http://news.xinhuanet.com/politics/2011-09...c_122063243.htm it will remain at L2 until the end of next year. Then, depending on the remaining fuel it may fly to the Sun-Earth L1 point, flyby a near Earth asteroid or comet, or return to the Moon

anybody seen this site before?
http://159.226.88.59:7779/CE1OutENGWeb/ce2files.jsp
"thumbnails" are actually full resolution images. under Mozilla: click right and then select "view image"

I had looked at that and some similar pages, but it never occurred to me to try and save the little thumbnail (since it didn't obviously link to anything). Now I'm happy!

Phil

Recently released lunar global map, in JP2 format (1.4 GB compressed): ftp://DataRelease:1q2w124@159.226.88.39/C...obal-50m-sc.rar

You can also find some other Chang'e 2 stuffs on this FTP server.

An online viewer: http://159.226.88.30:8080/CE2release/cesMain.jsp

Click to view attachment

Left: Google Moon; Right: Chang'e 2

The new map is very nice. I have just put a comment on LPOD about this but I'll repeat it here. The zoomable map works like the LROC Quickmap, except it does not have the extra level of detail provided by the LROC NAC frames. But when I zoom in on areas I know very well, I can see that the new Chinese map is better than the LROC WAC mosaic. The sun angle is higher, so topography is not so clearly seen, but the resolution is better than LROC WAC.

Phil

Lunar Rover Test in the Kumtag Desert, Gansu Province

Chang'e 3 lunar rover, due to launch in 2013.

Wonderful pictures, thanks for posting them here. I am really looking forward to this mission. I hope we will be able to see daily reports on the rover's activities.

It will be interesting to see if any Google Lunar X Prize team attempts a mission before Chang-E 3 in October 2013. I suspect not, I think China will have the next lander on the Moon.

Phil

Is that rocker-bogie? Doesn't JPL have a patent on that?

They do, although they probably won't sweat the noncommercial use of it.

Wouldn't matter unless JPL patented it in China.

edit:

Looking at these pictures, it makes Scooterlord's MER render that much more amazing. Is it real, or is it Scooterlord? ™

The Chinese rover wheels are reminiscent of the Lunokods of the 1970s.

Can you post the original URL where these images came from?

(Cool stuff.)

From 9ifly forums: http://www.9ifly.cn/thread-364-5-2.html

The first few pictures were originally posted as a travelogue by ticker@newsmth (a team member): http://www.newsmth.net/bbsbfind.php?q=1&am...cks&dt=1000