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China Reveals First Chang’e-2 Photos! November 10, 2010

Posted by Nick Azer in : Chang'e, Chang'e-2, China, selenography, Sinus Iridium (Bay of Rainbows), Wen Jiabao , trackback

China has released the first photos from it’s recently-launched Chang’e-2 lunar orbiter!

Released with some fanfare (that’s the Chinese premier, Wen Jiabao, there. [Editor's note: originally had Jiabao as the "head of state"; that would actually be the president, Hu Jintao, not the premier, Jiabao]), the images get more or less straight to the point: they’re of the Bay of Rainbows (Sinus Iridium), which China has slated to be the potential landing location of it’s Chang’e-3 rover mission.

The images include a 3-D map, and have a resolution of ~1.3 meters (for comparison, NASA’s Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter has resolution up to 1 m [PDF]).

Check out the official Chinese release page for all the images :) (A rough translation notes the last image is labeled as “antarctic”, so it’s unclear if that’s also a Bay of Rainbows crater, or one near the lunar south pole.)

Comments»

1. Chang’e 2 Moon Photos « Dad2059's Webzine of Science Fiction, Science Fact and Esoterica - November 10, 2010

[...] China Reveals First Chang’e-2 Photos! [...]

2. Dennis Wingo - November 10, 2010

Great article!

I would point out that the LROC camera on LRO has a resolution (NAC images), of 0.5 meters.

3. the suborbital space tourism is TOO dangerous - November 10, 2010

why, both (USA and China) lunar probes haven’t used today’s (military and commercial) very hi-res cameras rather than their mid-res 1 m./1.3 m. cameras???

4. 2000AD: good news, ladies. | idleworm - November 10, 2010

[...] China’s second moon probe, Chang’e2 , returns photos: [...]

5. Astronews Daily (2455512) - November 11, 2010

[...] China released the first Chang’e-2 images – China has released the first photos from it’s recently-launched Chang’e-2 lunar orbiter! Released with some fanfare, the images get more or less straight to the point: they’re of the Bay of Rainbows (Sinus Iridium), which China has slated to be the potential landing location of it’s Chang’e-3 rover mission.-Luna C/I [...]