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THE DAILY ASTORIAN • THuRSDAY, JANuARY 3, 2019
China lands spacecraft on ‘dark’ side of moon
By KEN MORITSUGU
Associated Press
BEIJING — China’s
burgeoning space program
achieved a first today: a land-
ing on the so-called dark side
of the moon that brings the
country closer to its goal of
becoming a space power.
Three nations — the
United States, the former
Soviet Union and more
recently China — have sent
spacecraft to the near side of
the moon, which faces Earth,
but this landing is the first-
ever on the far side.
The China National Space
Administration said the
10:26 a.m. touchdown of the
Chang’e 4 craft has “opened
up a new chapter in human
lunar exploration.”
A photo taken at
11:40 a.m. and sent back by
Chang’e 4 shows a small cra-
ter and a barren surface that
appears to be illuminated
by a light from the lunar
explorer. Its name comes
from that of a Chinese god-
dess who, according to leg-
end, has lived on the moon
for millennia.
The landing highlights
China’s growing ambi-
tions to rival the U.S., Rus-
sia and Europe in space, and
more broadly, to cement
the nation’s position as a
regional and global power.
“The space dream is part
China National Space Administration
The first image of the moon’s far side taken by China’s Chang’e-4 probe.
of the dream to make China
stronger,” President Xi Jin-
ping said in 2013, shortly
after becoming China’s
leader.
In year-end wrap-ups,
Chinese media and officials
hailed the Dec. 8 launch
of Chang’e 4 as one of the
nation’s major achievements
in 2018. Today’s landing was
announced to the public by
state broadcaster CCTV at
the top of the noon news.
“On the whole, China’s
space technology still lags
behind the West, but with
the landing on the far side of
the moon, we have raced to
the front,” said Hou Xiyun, a
professor at Nanjing Univer-
sity’s school of astronomy
and space science.
He added that China has
Mars, Jupiter and asteroids in
its sights: “There’s no doubt
that our nation will go farther
and farther.”
In 2013, Chang’e 3, the
predecessor craft to the cur-
rent mission, made the first
moon landing since the for-
mer Soviet Union’s Luna 24
in 1976. The United States is
the only country that has suc-
cessfully sent a person to the
moon, though China is con-
sidering a crewed mission
too.
For now, it plans to send a
Chang’e 5 probe to the moon
next year and have it return
to Earth with samples — also
not done since the Soviet
mission in 1976.
The moon’s far side isn’t
always dark but is sometimes
called the dark side because
it faces away from Earth and
is relatively unknown. It has
a different composition than
the near side, where previous
missions have landed.
Chang’e 4, a combined
lander and rover, will make
astronomical observations
and probe the structure and
mineral composition of the
terrain above and below the
surface.
“The far side of the moon
is a rare quiet place that is free
from interference from radio
signals from Earth,” mis-
sion spokesman Yu Guobin
said, according to the official
Xinhua News Agency. “This
probe can fill the gap of
low-frequency observation
in radio astronomy and will
provide important informa-
tion for studying the origin of
stars and nebula evolution.”
One challenge of oper-
ating on the far side of the
moon is communicating
with Earth. China launched
a relay satellite in May so
that Chang’e 4 can send back
information.
China conducted its first
crewed space mission in
2003, becoming only the
third country to do so after
Russia and the U.S. It has put
a pair of space stations into
orbit and plans to launch a
Mars rover in the mid-2020s.
Its space program suffered
a rare setback last year with
the failed launch of its Long
March 5 rocket.
Wu Weiren, the chief
designer of the China Lunar
Exploration Project, called
the landing a trailblazing
milestone.
“Building a space power
is a dream that we per-
sistently pursue,” he said in
an interview with CCTV at
the Beijing Aerospace Flight
and Control Center. “And
we’re gradually realizing it.”
Roadkill: ‘Damage done is absolutely mind-boggling’
Continued from Page A1
There is a reason hunters
try to drop a deer or elk by
aiming for the heart or lungs,
rather than ramming them
with a truck.
When an animal is hit by
a vehicle, the impact “vapor-
izes internal organs,” John-
son said. “The amount of
damage done is absolutely
mind-boggling.”
With smaller animals
like deer, unless a motorist
hits the deer on the tail end
or somehow directly on the
head, destruction of organs
is certain to happen, almost
guaranteeing the meat will
be ruined by a release of
toxins.
Elk — larger and heavier
than deer — are a slightly
different story.
“You hit an elk with a car
and you’re probably going to
the hospital, not the butcher
shop,” Johnson said. But
still, “the shock of being hit
by a car will pop the gut bag
like a water balloon.”
With all roadkill, there is
a potential for a high amount
of bacterial infection.
Processing these car-
casses is an insurance risk
for Shy Ann Meats. Besides,
the extra work it would
take to piece out salvage-
able meat means the busi-
ness would probably have to
charge more than usual.
If someone is set on tak-
ing home roadkill, Johnson
recommends caution.
“Take absolutely all the
possible time you can,” he
said. “Go over it with a fine-
tooth comb and smell it.”
You may not be able to
see contamination in the
meat, Johnson said, but you
will definitely be able to
smell it.
Under Oregon’s rules,
which went into effect on
Tuesday, it remains illegal
to intentionally hit a deer or
elk.
Anyone who hits a deer
or elk and wants to save
the meat must notify law
enforcement, surrender the
antlers and head to the state
and submit a permit applica-
tion within 24 hours provid-
ing information about where
and when the animal was hit.
They get to keep the hide.
Katie Frankowicz/The Daily Astorian
Elk are a common sight in Hammond.
Washington state has
allowed drivers to salvage
road-struck deer and elk
since 2016.
It’s too early to say what
impact the new law will
have across Oregon, but
Lou Torres, a spokesman for
the Oregon Department of
Transportation, said it may
help reduce the number of
elk or deer carcasses on the
side of the state’s roads. If
this proves to be the case,
the law could address both
the potential roadside haz-
ard created by carcasses, as
well as the statewide has-
sle of what to do with large
roadkill.
As of Wednesday, four
people have taken advantage
of the option.
October and Novem-
ber tend to be the busiest
months of the year for “vehi-
cle versus elk or deer” calls,
according to Merila. There
are fewer hours of daylight
and, with hunting seasons in
full swing, the animals seem
to be on the move.
State road crews remove
dead animals from state
roads, but the state does
not maintain any rendering
plants to dispose of roadkill.
“That’s a big challenge
for us,” Torres said. “We cur-
rently have to be pretty cre-
ative in how we get rid of
the carcass. If we can reduce
that somewhere, somehow,
that’s probably good from
ODOT’s standpoint, for
sure.”
Brenna Visser/The Daily Astorian
A dead deer lies along U.S. Highway 101 near Gearhart.
Elk: ‘It’s not just a county issue — it’s a state issue’
Continued from Page A1
“There’s not a lot of
things we can do as a city,”
he said. “The ODFW is in
control of the management,
but they suggested this is a
good first step to protect the
citizens from that type of
contact.”
The ordinance will return
for a first council reading in
February and a second one in
March. If approved, it would
become law 30 days later.
The city will join War-
renton and the Department
of Fish and Wildlife with
representatives of Oregon
Solutions at a meeting at
10:30 a.m. Wednesday in
Gearhart. The meeting is to
“see if they’ll take up our
cause,” Sweet said of man-
aging elk on the Clatsop
Plains.
Both Mayor Brown and
Warrenton Mayor Henry
Balensifer are expected to
attend.
The mission of Oregon
Solutions — a partner with
the National Policy Consen-
sus Center at Portland State
University — is to develop
sustainable solutions to com-
munity-based
problems
through collaborative efforts.
“It’s not just a Gearhart
issue,” Brown said. “It’s not
just a county issue — it’s a
state issue.”