China Wanted to THIS Animal to the Moon!

Source: Newsweek

China was thinking about sending tortoises to the far side of the moon as part of its Chang'e-4 mission, one of the scientists involved has revealed.

The plan was dropped after researchers realized they would only have enough oxygen to keep them alive for around 20 dayswhich is far shorter than the time it took the spacecraft to land on the lunar surface.

Xie Gengxin, from the Technology Research Institute at Chongqing University, was in charge of designing the biological experiment on board Chang'e-4. In an interview with the technology magazine IEEE Spectrum, Xie said the team had initially wanted to send a small species of tortoise to the moon. This could have provided important information about how animals react to the gravitational conditions on the lunar surfacefindings that could aid future manned missions there.

However, constraints around weights on board the spacecraft prevented them from sending the first reptiles on the moon.

"The weight of the Chang'e-4 probe demanded that the weight [of the experiment] can't exceed three kilograms (6.6lbs)," he told the magazine. "Even though it is very meaningful to choose tortoise, the oxygen inside the payload can only be used for about 20 days for turtles."

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