1484384_642579702469701_1159617614_n-580x401.jpg (Photo : www.roselandobservatory.com/)
On Sunday night, Dec 15, China's inaugural Chang'e-3 lunar lander and rover beamed back portraits of one another snapped from the Moon's surface. Ma Xingrui, chief commander of China's lunar program announced later that the Chang'e-3 mission has been successfully completed.
In the picture, the lander is covered by Sun beam. China's flag shines bright on the front because the rover turned around so that the flag is emblazoned on the front side would be facing the lander's high resolution color cameras.
The one minute of photo shooting each other isn't simply photographing. The lander is equipped with eight science instruments including multiple cameras, spectrometers, an optical telescope, ground penetrating radar and other sensors to investigate the lunar surface and composition.
Since its launch on Dec 2, China's Chang'e-3 lunar probe has successfully targeted multiple narrow windows, completed moon surface soft landing and two parts detachment. The one-minute photographing, a day after the country finished its first lunar soft landing, showed that both the lander and moon rover functioned well and marked the completion of soft landing, in-situ and patrol explorations, said Pei Zhaoyu, spokesman for China's lunar probe program.
The flag is about the size of B5 paper. It was made of some special material that can take up to 300 degrees temperature difference. The color camera on the lander is able to take color pictures that present the red flag.
Ten years ago, Chinese astronaut Yang Liwei also showed the face of China's flag during his seven laps flight in space with Shenzhou V, which made China an official member of the top manned-space club. A decade later, the successful implementation of Chang'e-3 lunar probe mission makes China the world's third country that has mastered the lunar soft landing and lunar probe technology.
