By Brian Stallard From Nature World News

The third phase of China’s lunar exploration program successfully lifted off on Thursday, marking the beginning of the country’s first partly-privatized mission into the Moon’s orbit.

A Chinese Long March-3C rocket shook the ground at Xichang Satellite Launch Center in southwest China’s Sichuan Province on Thursday, achieving a successfully timed liftoff and seeing its payload on its way to the Moon.

The payload in question consists of a 31-pound spacecraft called Manfred Memorial Moon Mission, or 4M, which was manufactured by the Luxembourg-based company LuxSpace. This mission is China’s first private contract aimed at space activity, and is meant as a memorial for LuxSpace founder Manfred Fuchs.

The 4M spacecraft itself is simple enough, continuously transmitting radio signals soon after launch. Amateur radio enthusiasts can work to decode these signals, which are various messages from the company. A contest has even been set up based around the reception and decoding of as many messages as possible during the eight day mission.

However, it’s not all fun and games for this flight. Aside from the 4M, the Long March is also carrying the unmanned Chang’e-5-T1 spacecraft. The craft will reportedly whip around the Moon in a half-orbit before plummeting back to Earth, testing and validating re-entry technologies that will be used in the actual Chang’e-5 lunar mission in 2017.

During this future mission, a final version of the Chnag’e-5 T1 craft will collect samples and data from the Moon before returning to Earth.

According to Chinese news outlet Xinhua Net, the Long March rocket that lifted these two unique payloads out of Earth’s atmosphere is a new generation of carrier rocket, boasting a 120-ton-thrust liquid oxygen (LOX) and kerosene engine.

The development of this kind of next-generation rocket – first debuted in China in 2012 – made China the second country to embrace LOX/kerosene high-pressure staged combustion. Russia was the first space-faring country to use this arguably most efficient concept.

IMAGES:

The third phase of China’s lunar exploration program successfully lifted off on Thursday, marking the beginning of the country’s first partly-privatized mission into the Moon’s orbit. (Photo : 4M via Xinhua)

Photo : 4M/LuxSpace) the 4M spacecraft

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Related story:

Sports drink being sent to the Moon

By Brian Stallard From Nature World News

“One giant leap” for sport drinks everywhere. Japanese company Otsuka Pharmaceuticals announced on Thursday that they plan to be the first to put a sports drink on the moon, sending a can of powdered Pocari Sweat along with the “dreams of children” to the moon by 2015. (Photo : Flickr: Ben Dalton)

Astronauts of the future may find themselves playing “kick the can” on the moon, but only after they quench their thirst with some refreshing Pocari Sweat, of course.

Japanese company Otsuka Pharmaceuticals announced Thursday that they plan to be the first to put a sports drink on the Moon, sending a can of powdered Pocari Sweat along with the “dreams of children” to the Moon by 2015.

According to a company press release, the 2009 discovery that there is free-flowing groundwater far beneath the surface of the Moon inspired this unusual promotional stunt.

“Otsuka hopes that one day youths interested in space will live out their dreams, collect the DREAM CAPSULE, and drink the POCARI SWEAT mixed with the water found on the moon,” the company wrote.

The “dream capsule,” a sealed titanium time capsule, was reportedly designed by experts to endure the harsh environments of the Moon, which shift from extremely hot to extremely cold temperatures as the rotation of the natural satellite exposes its different faces to the Sun.

According to Otsuka, the time capsule – which will be shaped like a Pocari Sweat Can – will contain numerous hand-written messages from children interested in space travel, in addition to the sports drink mix. Messages can also be sent to the capsule in an app the company is releasing that supposedly will only work if your Smartphone is “aimed towards the Moon during a moonlit night.”

Unfortunately for thirsty future moon men, they will only be able to get their hands on the sports drink and some reading material if they happen to have one of the 120 “dream rings” designed to unlock the can-shaped time capsule. These rings were given away to the children who wrote the capsule’s messages, according to the company.

The Lunar Dream Capsule Project, which will carry the time capsule to the Moon, is scheduled to launch in October 2015 from Florida, making it the first privately funded mission to the Moon.

IMAGE: Pocari Sweat

For more on this story go to: http://www.natureworldnews.com/articles/7069/20140515/sports-drink-being-sent-moon.htm#ixzz3HB2q8qXe