Von Kármán is a large
lunarimpact crater that is located in the southern hemisphere on the
far side of the Moon. The crater is about 186 km (116 mi) in diameter and lies within an immense impact crater known as the
South Pole–Aitken basin of roughly 2,500 km (1,600 mi) in diameter and 13 km (8.1 mi) deep.[1] Von Kármán is the site of the first soft-landing on the lunar far side by the Chinese
Chang'e 4 spacecraft on 3 January 2019.
Name
The crater is named after Hungarian-American aeronautical engineer
Theodore von Kármán.
Overview
The northern third of this formation is overlain by the rim and outer rampart of the walled plain
Leibnitz, forming a deep indentation in the formation. The remainder of the outer wall is roughly circular in shape, although it is irregular and heavily worn by subsequent impacts.
The interior of Von Kármán has been subjected to flooding by
lava flows after the original crater formed, leaving the southern portion of the floor nearly flat. This surface has a lower
albedo than the surrounding terrain, and is nearly as dark as the interior of Leibnitz. There is a central peak at the location where the midpoint of the original Von Kármán was formed, which joins with the rougher surface in the northern part of the crater.
In addition to Leibnitz to the north, the crater
Oresme is located to the west-northwest, and
Finsen lies to the northeast on the edge of Leibnitz's rim. Nearly attached to the southeast rim is the unusual figure-eight-shaped formation Von Kármán L. Directly to the east of this is the crater
Alder.
Prior to formal naming in 1970 by the
IAU,[2] the crater was known as Crater 434.[3]
Exploration and cotton seeds sprouting
On 3 January 2019, the Chinese spacecraft
Chang'e 4 landed inside the crater Von Kármán, becoming the first spacecraft to soft-land on the
far side of the Moon.[4] The site holds symbolic meaning and scientific value as
Theodore von Kármán (1881–1963) was the PhD advisor of
Qian Xuesen, the founder of the Chinese space program.[5]
Chang'e 4 took cotton seeds on its mission, and on 15 January 2019, China announced that cotton seeds had sprouted, the first "truly otherworldly plant in history".[6]
On 4 February 2019 the
IAU approved the name of the landing site as Statio Tianhe.[7] The central peak of Von Kármán, to the northwest of the landing site, was named Mons Tai.[8] Three small craters were also named:
Hegu[9] is south of the landing site,
Zhinyu[10] is to the west, and
Tianjin[11] is to the northeast.
Satellite craters
By convention these features are identified on lunar maps by placing the letter on the side of the crater midpoint that is closest to Von Kármán.
Von Kármán
Latitude
Longitude
Diameter
L
47.7° S
177.9° E
29 km
M
47.2° S
176.2° E
225 km
R
45.8° S
170.8° E
28 km
References
^Petro, Noah E.; Pieters, Carle M. (2004-05-05), "Surviving the heavy bombardment: Ancient material at the surface of South Pole-Aitken Basin", Journal of Geophysical Research, 109 (E6): E06004,
Bibcode:
2004JGRE..109.6004P,
doi:10.1029/2003je002182
^Von Kármán, Gazetteer of Planetary Nomenclature, International Astronomical Union (IAU) Working Group for Planetary System Nomenclature (WGPSN)
Menzel, D. H.; Minnaert, M.; Levin, B.; Dollfus, A.; Bell, B. (1971). "Report on Lunar Nomenclature by the Working Group of Commission 17 of the IAU". Space Science Reviews. 12 (2): 136–186.
Bibcode:
1971SSRv...12..136M.
doi:
10.1007/BF00171763.
S2CID122125855.