China Goes for Second Phase of Lunar Program

With the successful launch of China's first unmanned lunar satellite (Chang'e 1) mission, it now goes ahead for the next phase of its lunar program which will eventually lead to the sending of the first Chinese taikonaut to Earth's nearest neighbor. While it has no timetable for this milestone, Luan Enjie, the chief commander of the country's lunar orbiter project, says there are big hurdles to go over, like technical problems, and lots of money to spend. Luan says there is yet no timetable as to when that will be. I guess that means other countries like Japan can still try to be the first from East Asia.

Coincidentally, a Chinese company called Lunar Embassy has begun to sell real estate property on the moon. For those in the know, there is also a company in the US with the same name that also has the same business. What's the relation of the two companies? Well, the owner of the Chinese company, Li Jie (sounds like Jet Lee), says he had already spoken to the owner of the US company, Dennis Hope, before. There seems to be no conflict of interest in selling the same thing to different people, but then again, it's just the fancy "land title" certificate that people pay for anyway. You can't really claim land on the moon or any other body in space.

In more serious matters, Google, which has developed an online cartographic service of the Earth and the Moon (Google Earth and Google Moon), has launched a contest with a $30 million pot money to whoever gets a robot on the moon. Click here to find out more.

Jupiter's Northern Lights Twice the Size of Earth

Pictured here are Jupiter's northern lights (aurora borealis) which measure twice the size of Earth. Taken by the Hubble Space Telescope, the ultraviolet data is in blue. The magenta flash is a powerful x-ray source taken by the Chandra X-ray observatory. See the animation of a rotating Jupiter on the left. It emits radiation every 45 minutes and was first detected in 1979 by the Einstein x-ray satellite, although the location of the source was unknown. Scientists still don't have an explanation for the emission. It is one of the mysteries of the jovian planet that may take a while to solve.