With the drip, drip, drip of data and images coming in monthly from JAXA and Kaguya (Selene 1), first in Japanese and long afterward in English, we had nearly forgotten that the People's Republic also is rumored to have in orbit around Earth's Moon an orbiter of their own.
Chang'E 1, the People's Daily confidently reports from Beijing, is still in orbit and is soon to have completed its first map of the lunar surface. Without any images or data getting past the Middle Kingdom's Firewall since November, however, CNSA is unconcerned with continued rumors they lifted their few photographic releases from NASA, ran them through Photoshop, and hoped no one would notice that they haven't said a word about Chang'E 1 since.
We can hardly wait for the flood of data from their Rover, slated for 2014. Perhaps we'll get the first data from that future mission in the middle 2020's.
Read more HERE.
