2014 ~ Search, Explore ofINTEREST.net for Breaking News, Video and Resources to sojourn your of INTEREST

China probe flies around the moon and back for the first time since 1970's - www.ofINTEREST.net

Via

China probe flies around moon and back in first such mission since 1970s

Chang’e 5-T1, aka ‘Xiaofei’, arrives back on Earth as space programme works towards a 2017 land-and-return mission

Chinese researchers examine the scorched Chang’e 5-T1 return capsule after it landed successfully in Inner Mongolia having travelled around the moon and back. Photograph: Xinhua

China has completed its first return mission to the moon with the successful re-entry and landing on Earth of an unmanned probe, state media reported.

The probe, Chang’e 5-T1, landed safely in northern China’s Inner Mongolia region, state news agency Xinhua said, citing the Beijing Aerospace Control Centre.

Xinhua said the probe, dubbed “Xiaofei” (little flyer) on social media, took “some incredible pictures” of the Earth and the moon. It is the first trip around the moon and back since US and Russian flights of the 1970s, 40 years ago.

Prior to re-entering the Earth’s atmosphere the unnamed probe had been travelling at 11.2 kilometres per second (25,000 miles per hour), a speed that can generate temperatures of more than 1,500C (2,700F), the news agency reported.

To slow it down scientists let the craft “bounce” off Earth’s atmosphere before re-entering again and landing.

The probe’s mission was to travel to the moon, fly around it and head back to Earth, said the the state science and technology agency, Sastind. The module went 413,000km from Earth at its furthest point.

The mission was launched to test technology to be used in the Chang’e-5, China’s fourth lunar probe, which aims to gather and return samples from the surface in 2017.

The military-run space project has plans for a permanent orbiting station by 2020 and eventually to send a human to the moon.

China currently has a robotic rover, Yutu (Jade Rabbit), on the moon. It landed on 14 December 2013 and completed parts of its mission before grinding to a halt on 25 January 2014 due to equipment failure.

& Via

China goes to the moon and back for the first time

China plans to land on the moon by 2017

The Moon. UPI/Ismael Mohamad.

BEIJING, Nov. 1 (UPI) -- China has successfully completed it's first mission to the moon and back and plans to land on the moon by 2017.

An unmanned spacecraft flew around the moon and then returned by landing in the grasslands of Mongolia, according to state news agency Xinhua. The unmanned craft traveled at roughly 25,000 miles per hour on its return trip before it entered Earth's atmosphere and reached temperatures of almost 3,000 degrees Fahrenheit.

China is now the third country to go to the moon and back, after Russia and the United States.

China's State Administration of Science, Technology and Industry for National Defense (SASTIND) claims their Chang'e-5 unmanned probe will land on the moon in 2017 to collect samples from the surface.

China plans to eventually land a man on the moon, something that hasn't been done in about 42 years. The country plans to build its own space station by 2020.

& Via

China goes around the Moon

On 24 October, China launched Chang'E-5-T1. The unmanned spacecraft is set to fly around the Moon then release a capsule that will return to Earth at the end of the month in order to test this phase for a future mission to return samples.

Launch of the Chang'E-5-T1 mission on top a CZ-3C rocket from Xichang base in China on 24 October.
Credit: CNSA

The Chinese lunar programme continues to progress in stages. After sending 2 spacecraft around the Moon, on 14 December 2013, the Chinese space agency, CNSA (China National Space Administration) landed its Chang'E-3 lander in the Mare Imbrium on our natural satellite. The spacecraft was carrying the Yutu rover that surveyed the lunar surface until it was immobilised due to a malfunction in January 2014.

The next exploration mission planned in the programme is Chang'E-4 which must also complete an automatic landing, expected in 2015. Despite its name, ChangíE-5-T1 is still part of the chronology of the Chinese programme, this flight is in fact a partial technological test for the Chang'E-5 mission (without the T1) which in 2017 should take samples from the Moon's surface and bring them back to Earth. Chang'E-5-T1 aims to test the capsule that will bring the samples back to our planet. A CZ-3C rocket sent the spacecraft to the Moon, taking-off from the Xichang Space Centre in the early hours of 24 October (local time).

Chang'E-5-T1 consists of a carrier spacecraft fitted with solar panels and derived from the DFH-3 platform shared by several Chinese satellites and which was also used for the Chang’E-1 and 2 missions. However, this time, there was also a return capsule. Chang’E-5-T1 will not land on the Moon or collect any samples. The spacecraft will go around our natural satellite by 27/28 October then, when it is close to Earth, it will release the capsule so that it re-enters our atmosphere and lands underneath parachutes on the ground. This landing should take place on 31 October or 1 November.

The return capsule that will be tested during the Chang'E-5-T1 mission. It is similar to the Shenzhou manned, three-seater spacecraft, but smaller.
Credit : CAST

Thus the CNSA is testing the re-entry phase in real conditions, i.e. at a speed similar to that of a return from the Moon, which is faster than from Earth's orbit.

The third stage of the rocket which launched Chang'E-5-T1 is carrying a small European experiment called 4M. Developed by the company Lux Space, this is a radio transmitter which will emit a signal for radio amateurs. Given that the third stage is also heading to the Moon, this is an opportunity for the radio amateur community to follow a signal intended for them as the transmitter travels to our natural satellite. The name 4M stands for Manfred Memorial Moon Mission in honour of Manfred Fuchs, founder of the OHB company (satellite manufacturer) who died early this year.
The 4M website: http://moon.luxspace.lu

Mission control based in Beijing during the launch of Chang'E-5-T1.
Credit: CNSA

& Earlier Via

China's eight-day mission to fly around the moon and back to Earth blasts off

China sent a mission to the moon from the southwestern Xichang satellite launch centre this morningThe spacecraft will fly around the moon on an eight-day missionIt is intended to be a precursor to a mission to the lunar surface in 2017This will return samples back to Earth - only the third nation to do so after the US and RussiaChina also has plans to land people on the moon, possibly beyond 2020

By Jonathan O'Callaghan for MailOnline
Published: 05:36 EST, 24 October 2014 | Updated: 08:22 EST, 24 October 2014

China has launched an experimental spacecraft to fly around the moon and back to Earth.

The eight-day mission is seen as a test-run for the country's first unmanned return trip to the lunar surface, which will take place in 2017.

And if China successfully manages to bring samples back from the moon, they will be only the third nation to carry out such a mission after the US and Russia.

Scroll down for video

China sent a mission to the moon from the southwestern Xichang satellite launch centre this morning (shown). The spacecraft will fly around the moon on an eight-day mission. It is intended to be a precursor to a mission to the lunar surface in 2017

The spacecraft lifted off from the southwestern Xichang satellite launch centre early this morning.

It separated from its carrier rocket and entered Earth orbit shortly after, the State Administration of Science, Technology and Industry for National Defense (Sastind) reported, according to the official Xinhua News Agency.

'The first stage of the first return journey test in China's moon probe programme has been successful,' Sastind said after the launch, from the Xichang space base in the southwestern province of Sichuan.

The module will be 257,000 miles (413,000 km) from Earth at its furthest point on the eight-day mission.

The official Xinhua news agency said it would re-enter the atmosphere at 11.2 kilometres per second (25,000 mph) before slowing down - a process that generates extremely high temperatures - and it will land in northern China's Inner Mongolia region.

China's lunar exploration program, named Chang'e after a mythical goddess, has already launched a pair of orbiting lunar probes and last year landed a craft on the moon with a rover onboard.

China has also hinted at a possible crewed mission to the moon at a future date if officials decide to combine the human spaceflight and lunar exploration programs.

Xinhua said the latest mission is to 'obtain experimental data and validate re-entry technologies such as guidance, navigation and control, heat shield and trajectory design' for the future moonlander christened Chang'e 5.

It will return to Earth using a Soviet-designed method in which it will first bounce off Earth's atmosphere in order to slow it down to allow it to enter the atmosphere without burning up.

HOW IT WILL LAND ON EARTH

The module will be 257,000 miles (413,000 km) from Earth at its furthest point on the eight-day mission.

It will return to Earth using a Soviet-designed method in which it will first bounce off Earth's atmosphere in order to slow it down to allow it to enter the atmosphere without burning up.

China's military-backed space program is a source of massive national pride, especially its series of successful manned missions that have placed up to three astronauts at a time in an experimental orbiting space station called Tiangong 1.

It sent its first astronaut into space in 2003, becoming the third nation after Russia and the US to achieve manned space travel independently.

China has powered ahead in a series of methodically timed steps, independent of the American programme, which is now in its sixth decade of putting people into space and has long-term plans to go to an asteroid and Mars.

Alongside the manned program, China is developing the Long March 5 heavy-lift rocket needed to launch a more permanent space station to be called Tiangong 2.

China's space programme has been picking up speed over the last decade. They have already sent a handful of astronauts into Earth orbit including Liu Yang, left, Jing Haipeng, right, and Liu Wang pictured here in June 2012 on their way to the launch pad

Last year China successfully landed and operated a rover on the moon called Jade Rabbit, shown. However, it ultimately succumbed to the bitterly cold lunar nights. China's next mission to the lunar surface in 2017 will lift return samples to Earth

Related:

Gaofen-1, China's first high-resolution satellite captured 10 incredible images: Must see!

China probe flies around the moon and back for the first time since 1970's - www.ofINTEREST.net

Via

China probe flies around moon and back in first such mission since 1970s

Chang’e 5-T1, aka ‘Xiaofei’, arrives back on Earth as space programme works towards a 2017 land-and-return mission

Chinese researchers examine the scorched Chang’e 5-T1 return capsule after it landed successfully in Inner Mongolia having travelled around the moon and back. Photograph: Xinhua

China has completed its first return mission to the moon with the successful re-entry and landing on Earth of an unmanned probe, state media reported.

The probe, Chang’e 5-T1, landed safely in northern China’s Inner Mongolia region, state news agency Xinhua said, citing the Beijing Aerospace Control Centre.

To slow it down scientists let the craft “bounce” off Earth’s atmosphere before re-entering again and landing.

The mission was launched to test technology to be used in the Chang’e-5, China’s fourth lunar probe, which aims to gather and return samples from the surface in 2017.

The military-run space project has plans for a permanent orbiting station by 2020 and eventually to send a human to the moon.

& Via

China goes to the moon and back for the first time

China plans to land on the moon by 2017

The Moon. UPI/Ismael Mohamad.

BEIJING, Nov. 1 (UPI) -- China has successfully completed it's first mission to the moon and back and plans to land on the moon by 2017.

China is now the third country to go to the moon and back, after Russia and the United States.

China plans to eventually land a man on the moon, something that hasn't been done in about 42 years. The country plans to build its own space station by 2020.

& Via

China goes around the Moon

Launch of the Chang'E-5-T1 mission on top a CZ-3C rocket from Xichang base in China on 24 October.
Credit: CNSA

The return capsule that will be tested during the Chang'E-5-T1 mission. It is similar to the Shenzhou manned, three-seater spacecraft, but smaller.
Credit : CAST

Mission control based in Beijing during the launch of Chang'E-5-T1.
Credit: CNSA

& Earlier Via

China's eight-day mission to fly around the moon and back to Earth blasts off

China sent a mission to the moon from the southwestern Xichang satellite launch centre this morning The spacecraft will fly around the moon on an eight-day mission It is intended to be a precursor to a mission to the lunar surface in 2017 This will return samples back to Earth - only the third nation to do so after the US and Russia China also has plans to land people on the moon, possibly beyond 2020

By Jonathan O'Callaghan for MailOnline
Published: 05:36 EST, 24 October 2014 | Updated: 08:22 EST, 24 October 2014

China has launched an experimental spacecraft to fly around the moon and back to Earth.

The eight-day mission is seen as a test-run for the country's first unmanned return trip to the lunar surface, which will take place in 2017.

And if China successfully manages to bring samples back from the moon, they will be only the third nation to carry out such a mission after the US and Russia.

Scroll down for video

The spacecraft lifted off from the southwestern Xichang satellite launch centre early this morning.

The module will be 257,000 miles (413,000 km) from Earth at its furthest point on the eight-day mission.

China's lunar exploration program, named Chang'e after a mythical goddess, has already launched a pair of orbiting lunar probes and last year landed a craft on the moon with a rover onboard.

China has also hinted at a possible crewed mission to the moon at a future date if officials decide to combine the human spaceflight and lunar exploration programs.

It will return to Earth using a Soviet-designed method in which it will first bounce off Earth's atmosphere in order to slow it down to allow it to enter the atmosphere without burning up.

HOW IT WILL LAND ON EARTH

The module will be 257,000 miles (413,000 km) from Earth at its furthest point on the eight-day mission.

It will return to Earth using a Soviet-designed method in which it will first bounce off Earth's atmosphere in order to slow it down to allow it to enter the atmosphere without burning up.

It sent its first astronaut into space in 2003, becoming the third nation after Russia and the US to achieve manned space travel independently.

Alongside the manned program, China is developing the Long March 5 heavy-lift rocket needed to launch a more permanent space station to be called Tiangong 2.

Related:

Gaofen-1, China's first high-resolution satellite captured 10 incredible images: Must see!

British Captive John Cantlie Reports from Kobani in IS Video [ Pics / Videos ] - www.ofINTEREST.net

What does the Islamic State want?

Why aren't those of profit/gain and/or control willing to listen?

Who are the Islamic State? No really, who are they?

Please ask these questions and more, and don't STOP till you get to the real TRUTH!

Mikhael Love, IIO

British Captive John Cantlie Reports from Kobani in IS Video

The Islamic State (IS) released a video featuring British captive John Cantlie reporting from Kobani about the group’s control over the city despite Western media broadcasting the contrary.

The 5 minute, 32 second video, entitled, “Inside 'Ayn al-Islam,” was produced by the IS’ al-I’tisaam Media Foundation, and was distributed on Twitter on October 27, 2014. Cantlie, dressed in a black outfit, stands atop a building in Kobani and speaks on what he sees below him and in the distance, and claims that the IS has essentially secured victory in the city.

He stated:

“Kobani is now being reinforced by Iraqi Kurds who are coming in through Turkey, while the mujahideen are being resupplied by the hopeless United States Air Forces, who parachuted two crates of weapons and ammunition straight into the outstretched arms of the mujahideen. Now the battle for Kobani is coming to an end. The mujahideen are just mopping up now, street to street, and building to building. You can occasionally hear erratic gunfire in the background as a result of those operations. But contrary to what the Western media would have you believe, it is not an all-out battle here now. It is nearly over. As you can hear, it is very quiet, just the occasional gunfire.

“Two-hundred thousand inhabitants of the city have been displaced because of the fighting that came here. You can see the refugee camps over my right shoulder over there in Turkey, where the inhabitants now are. But contrary to media reports, the fighting in Kobani is nearly over
“Urban warfare is as about as nasty and tough as it gets, and it’s something of a specialty of the mujahideen.”

Following is a transcript of the video:

0:00
In the Name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful
Inside 'Ayn al-Islam
0:20
[Aerial footage from "drone of the Islamic State Army"]
0:40
[John Cantlie]

Hello, I'm John Cantlie, and today we're in the city of Kobani on the Syrian-Turkish border. That is in fact Turkey right behind me, and we are here in the heart of the so-called PKK safe zone, which is now controlled entirely by the Islamic State. For a month now, the soldiers of the Islamic State have been besieging this key Kurdish city and, despite continual American airstrikes, which have so far cost nearly half a billion dollars in total, the mujahideen have pushed deep in the heart of the city. They now control the eastern and southern sectors.

Now, the Western media, and I can't see any of their journalists here in the city of Kobani, have been saying recently that the Islamic State are on the retreat. In the last 48 hours, hundreds of Islamic State militants have been reportedly killed in airstrikes, said the IB Times, on the 16th of October. We now we've killed several hundred of them, said John Kirby, the Pentagon official. The Islamic State is retreating from the Syrian city of Kobani, said the BBC on October the 17th, while Patrick Coburn said in The Independent that despite suffering serious losses, the Islamic State was continuing its assault on the city.

Now this is all quite a turn-around from earlier in the month, when U.S. officials were saying, and I quote: "The strategically unimportant city of Kobani was going to fall into mujahideen hands in just a matter of time. It's going to be difficult with just airpower to prevent the Islamic State from taking the town, said U.S. National Security Advisor Tony Blinken on the 10th of October.

Now, good ole John Kerry doesn't seem to think the mujahideen are retreating. He called Kobani a "horrible example of the unwillingness of people to help those who are fighting the Islamic State". Now that's a dig at Kurd-hating Turkish President Erdogan.

But the point is, from where I'm standing right now, I can see large swathes of the city, and I can even see the Turkish flag behind me, and all I've seen here in the city of Kobani is mujahideen. There are no YPG, PKK, or Peshmerga in sight. Just a large number of Islamic State mujahideen, and they are definitely not on the run. Without any safe access, there are no journalists here in the city. So the media are getting their information from Kurdish commanders and White House press secretaries, neither of whom have the slightest intention of telling the truth of what is happening here on the ground. Now, airstrikes did prevent some groups of mujahideen from using their tanks and heavy armor as they would have liked, so they are entering the city and using light weapons instead, going house to house.

Now America is very keen for Kobani to become a symbol - a symbol of victory of the coalition that is working together to defeat the Islamic State. But they now and the mujahideen also know that even with all their airpower and all their proxy troops on the ground, even this is not enough to defeat the Islamic State here in Kobani and elsewhere.

Kobani is now being reinforced by Iraqi Kurds who are coming in through Turkey, while the mujahideen are being resupplied by the hopeless United States Air Forces, who parachuted two crates of weapons and ammunition straight into the outstretched arms of the mujahideen. Now the battle for Kobani is coming to an end. The mujahideen are just mopping up now, street to street, and building to building. You can occasionally hear erratic gunfire in the background as a result of those operations. But contrary to what the Western media would have you believe, it is not an all-out battle here now. It is nearly over. As you can hear, it is very quiet, just the occasional gunfire.

Two-hundred thousand inhabitants of the city have been displaced because of the fighting that came here. You can see the refugee camps over my right shoulder over there in Turkey, where the inhabitants now are. But contrary to media reports, the fighting in Kobani is nearly over
Urban warfare is as about as nasty and tough as it gets, and it’s something of a specialty of the mujahideen.

From on or about 25 October, 2014

John Cantlie speaks for around six minutes in the new video

British Captive John Cantlie Speaks on Experience with Fellow Hostages, Voices Displeasure for U.S, Britain Not Negotiating with IS

In the fifth episode of the Islamic State’s (IS) video series “Lend Me Your Ears,” British captive John Cantlie discussed his experience with fellow prisoners from America and Europe, including fighters waterboarding them, and the “uncomfortable truth” about the U.S. and Britain not negotiating for their release.

The 6 minute, 30 second video was produced by the IS’ al-Furqan Media Foundation, and was distributed on Twitter on October 25, 2014. Cantlie said that the IS began a “long-term” operation to capture Westerners entering Syria in 2013 and then tried negotiating with their home countries for their release. Here, he pointed out that nationals from Denmark, Germany, and Spain were released through negotiations, but the Americans and Britons were “stonewalled” by their respective governments.

Cantlie read selections from alleged emails from prisoners’ families and the IS where the families complained about the U.S. government not helping. Cantlie remarked: “Now the recurring elements in these emails is that the U.S. government was simply doing absolutely nothing to help the families involved in this negotiation. The mujahideen told us our governments didn't care about us and we didn't believe them. They told us we were worthless and we didn't believe them. We were told we'd start to die and we didn't believe that either. The human mind has an incredibly tough capacity to self-defense in difficult situations. But it was all true. Our governments had chose not to negotiate with the Islamic State through our families and friends. And while everyone else fulfilled the conditions for release, for us, there was no deal.”

Following is a transcript of the video:

Lend Me Your Ears

Messages from the British Detainee John Cantlie

Episode 5

Hello, I'm John Cantlie, the British citizen abandoned by my own government, and a prisoner of the Islamic State for nearly two years.

In this program I'm going to reveal to you some uncomfortable truths that have so far resulted in the executions of my former cellmates. Only the American and British prisoners were left behind after months of negotiations that saw 16 other citizens from six European countries go home. How was this allowed to happen?

We have to go back to 2013 when the Islamic State launched a long-term operation to capture Westerns entering Syria, and they began the next phase of the operation: negotiating for our release with our governments through families and friends. Now, unless we tried something stupid like escaping or doing something we shouldn't, we were treated well by the Islamic State. Some of us who tried to escape were waterboarded by our captors, as Muslim prisoners are waterboarded by their American captors.

Our strange little community of prisoners had its share of problems, but apart from the odd fight, we lived together in relative harmony through uncertain times. We read books, played recreational games, and gave lectures on our specialist subjects. It wasn't a bad life.

The first to leave was my friend, Spanish journalist Marcus Marjuneris in February 2014. The mujahideen then made their first strong move by shooting one of our number, a Russian with no clean origin or story behind him. The message was clear: don't mess around when it comes to negotiations. The Europeans fell into line. Two more Spanish journalists left, then four French at the end of April, their representatives having fulfilled the conditions for their release.

But it was clear something was different for the British and Americans. While there was dialogue for everyone else, the British and Americans were stonewalled. It was completely silent. Nothing. Now we knew our countries claim to be non-negotiating when it came to situations like this, but often knew examples when they had negotiated either under the table or through a third party. Due to the size and complexity of this situation, and the number of other countries involved, we believed our governments would get us out in the end. So we waited patiently while everyone else went home to their loved ones.

Finally, we had movement in May. We made a video, wrote letters, and made a voice-recording. For us, the Islamic State were asking for the release of Muslim prisoners and their transfer to the Caliphate. It sounded very complicated, but we were the biggest group from the biggest countries. There had to be a negotiation going on. But by the time the last two Europeans left, my friends Dan from Denmark - another non-negotiating country - and Tony from Germany, it was clear to us we were in very big trouble.

Now I have here a selection of emails between the Islamic State and families back home. I don't have much on the British, so I assume there was even less discussion going on for them, so this is really all about the Americans and you'll see that really the government was doing nothing, absolutely nothing, to help families involved. I have a message here from one of the American prisoners on the 11th of June 2014:

"I would secure your sister Dr. Aafia Siddique's release if I could. It sounds like you care about her freedom. You have surely seen the news. Our government is a mess. They will not help."

There's another email here from the family of one of the American prisoners on the 17th of July 2014:

"Our government is not being helpful. We have begged them so many times already. Everyone has buried their heads in the sand. We feel we are caught in the middle between you and the U.S. government, and we are being punished. We have reached out to our government, but they have been non-responsive for some time now."

The person then goes on to say:

"We don't expect that we will get any help from our government at all, and we feel foolish for believing them."

There's a message from the family of one of the American prisoners on the 24th of July 2014:

"We are contacting people everyday. You've given us a huge mountain to climb, and we feel like a pawn in this political battle that we've been forced into. I'm taking everything you have said seriously, and I'm working as fast as I can. I need more time."

Now the recurring elements in these emails is that the U.S. government was simply doing absolutely nothing to help the families involved in this negotiation. The mujahideen told us our governments didn't care about us and we didn't believe them. They told us we were worthless and we didn't believe them. We were told we'd start to die and we didn't believe that either. The human mind has an incredibly tough capacity to self-defense in difficult situations. But it was all true. Our governments had chose not to negotiate with the Islamic State through our families and friends. And while everyone else fulfilled the conditions for release, for us, there was no deal.

Join me in the next program as we learn about a failed rescue that tried to get us out, and you'll hear about how one soldier was worth five prisoners and we were worth none.