Dec 14, 2018 01:05 AM
The Chinese are hoping to land a lunar lander called 'Chang'e-4' on the far side of the Moon. It was (supposedly) inserted into lunar orbit with a rocket burn yesterday. The successful execution of this maneuver was publicly announced.
https://spacenews.com/change-4-spacecraf...e-landing/
But the always-interesting Jonathan McDowell alerts us to a deepening mystery by retweeting this:
https://twitter.com/coastal8049/status/1...4466764800
Ever since around the time of the lunar orbit insertion burn, amateur space trackers can no longer hear the Chang'e. Details in this blog:
https://skyriddles.wordpress.com/2018/12...-the-moon/
The blog's author suggests three possibilities:
"What could be going on?
1. Nothing, the mission is proceeding normally and they just decided to turn the beacon off and/or have changed their standard operating procedures.
2. Chang'e 4 is emitting signals on a frequency that is not coordinated with the ITU. [International Telecommunications Union]
3. Something happened during or after the LOI [lunar orbit insertion] that now prevents the beacon from operating or effectively radiating toward Earth and China is figuring out how to resolve the issue before reacting publicly."
Time will tell.
https://spacenews.com/change-4-spacecraf...e-landing/
But the always-interesting Jonathan McDowell alerts us to a deepening mystery by retweeting this:
https://twitter.com/coastal8049/status/1...4466764800
Ever since around the time of the lunar orbit insertion burn, amateur space trackers can no longer hear the Chang'e. Details in this blog:
https://skyriddles.wordpress.com/2018/12...-the-moon/
The blog's author suggests three possibilities:
"What could be going on?
1. Nothing, the mission is proceeding normally and they just decided to turn the beacon off and/or have changed their standard operating procedures.
2. Chang'e 4 is emitting signals on a frequency that is not coordinated with the ITU. [International Telecommunications Union]
3. Something happened during or after the LOI [lunar orbit insertion] that now prevents the beacon from operating or effectively radiating toward Earth and China is figuring out how to resolve the issue before reacting publicly."
Time will tell.