Science and Exploration

LRO Finds Chang’e 4 On The Lunar Surface

By Keith Cowing
Press Release
February 6, 2019
Filed under , ,
LRO Finds Chang’e 4 On The Lunar Surface
Chang'e 4 On The Lunar Surface
ASU

On 3 January 2019 the Chinese spacecraft Chang’e 4 safely landed on the floor of Von Kármán crater (186 kilometer diameter, 116 miles).

Four weeks later (30 January 2019), as LRO approached the crater from the east, it rolled 70° to the west to snap this spectacular view looking across the floor towards the west wall. Because LRO was 330 kilometers (205 miles) to the east of the landing site, the Chang’e 4 lander is only about two pixels across (bright spot between the two arrows), and the small rover is not detectable. The massive mountain range in the background is the west wall of Von Kármán crater, rising more than 3000 meters (9850 feet) above the floor.

Larger images

SpaceRef co-founder, Explorers Club Fellow, ex-NASA, Away Teams, Journalist, Space & Astrobiology, Lapsed climber.