Daily Times

Released in 2011, Steven Spielberg and Michael Bay’s ‘Transformers: Dark of the Moon’, a sequel to Transformers (2007), show how NASA sent the Apollo astronauts, Buzz Aldrin, and Neil Armstrong, on the first mission to the moon. However, the movie shows that the media publicized the US government’s mission to the moon was actually a cover-up, the real reason was to explore the dark side of the moon as an alien space ship had crashed in these parts and NASA wanted to explore its remains without revealing the secret to the world.

Coming back to real life, eight years later, in 2019, in what is considered to be a historic first; the China National Space Administration (CNSA) sent a land rover, Yutu-2, ‘Chang’e 4’, to the moon which landed successfully on January 3, 2019. Its objective is to explore the dark side of the moon – for the very time in human history. Coincidences do occur? They surely do. While those who have seen Transformers: Dark of the Moon, and know the background story would certainly know within an instant, and would be able to connect the dots to China’s space mission. What if China, through its high-powered satellites and state-of-the-art space technology did find something peculiar on the moon’s dark side? What if this historic event is also a cover up to something momentous, which only the Chinese government knows of? While we cannot rule out any possibility or predict anything at this moment, we do know that governments and its many bodies, especially those dealing in and connected with the military and space technology, know far more secrets, enigmas and mysteries of the world, its habitats and those residing outside its atmosphere than a general public.

The ‘Chang’e 4’ land rover is set to accomplish a number of objectives which include to measure the chemical compositions of lunar rocks and soils, to measure lunar surface temperature over the duration of the mission, to carry out low-frequency radio astronomical observations and to research using a radio telescope

China’s lunar rover, ‘Chang’e 4’, a communication relay satellite, was sent into orbit in May 2018 and upon landing on the moon’s dark side, it began sending pictures of the moon which, as scientists said, were haunting, to say the least. The ‘Chang’e 4’ land rover is set to accomplish a number of objectives which include to measure the chemical compositions of lunar rocks and soils, to measure lunar surface temperature over the duration of the mission, to carry out low-frequency radio astronomical observations and to research using a radio telescope. It is also going to study cosmic rays, to observe solar corona, investigate its radiation characteristics and mechanism, and to explore the evolution and transport of coronal mass ejections (CME) between the Sun and Earth.

While China has been adamant to overtake the US economy, it has now even taken over the US as the country pursuing space exploration. Since the US sent its first man on the moon in July 1969, it has kept sending a plethora of manned and unmanned missions into space, but it has never sent one to the dark side of the moon. What was the strategy behind not exploring this region of the moon is still unknown; however, lacking appropriate technology could be one of the reasons. For ages, the moon has been a source of fascination for man. Where poets have used the moon in metaphors and similes, scientists and researchers have been dwelling upon the moon’s physical characteristics. For space explorers, on the other hand, the moon’s 41 percent land area, not visible to us – is also referred to as the ‘dark side’ – it has been a source of curiosity and mystery.

With the Chang’e 4 mission, China has successfully catapulted itself ahead of United States’ NASA and its space exploration objectives. China, therefore, now leads the space war that was once dominated by the US and Russia during the 1950s and 1960s. However, what the world and the media see as a historic event, may just be a cover-up for something far greater. Although such conspiracies float following the success of any mission on Earth or in space, one may never know the truth behind the reality.

Certain questions, however, do come to surface with the Chang’e 4 mission in the limelight. What if China knows something peculiar about the dark side of the moon? What if China wanted to be the first to reach that part of the moon so it could conceal the truth and reveal it at an appropriate time? These questions may seem absurd but they may pop up in anyone’s mind who has a wild imagination. Nevertheless, China’s successful mission to the moon may provoke President Trump to follow suit and surpass China’s achievements because China is obstinately endeavoring to become a global economic leader and an unbeatable space explorer.

The writer is an independent researcher and a columnist, writing on diverse topics including current geopolitical affairs

Published in Daily Times, January 13^th 2019.