Grey Havoc

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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-25178299


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lgZslWEQZHY
http://www.militaryphotos.net/forums/showthread.php?232992-Chinese-mission-to-Moon-launches

1126_Jade_Rabbit_630x420.jpg

http://www.businessweek.com/articles/2013-11-26/chinas-jade-rabbit-moonshot

rover.jpg

http://www.scmp.com/news/china-insider/article/1366148/chinese-lunar-rover-named-jade-rabbit-land-moon-next-month

(Early prototype or mock-up?)
jade_rabbit_lunar_rover.jpg

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2013/11/27/china_lunar_rover_yutu_jade_rabbit/
The country's first lunar buggy will be called Jade Rabbit after an online poll to pick its name chose the moniker from Chinese folklore. China's lunar missions are named after Chang'e, the moon goddess and in myths, Yutu is her pet rabbit who lives on the Moon with her.

Yutu is part of the Chang'e-3 lunar probe mission, which will be launched early in December, the State Administration of Science, Technology and Industry for National Defence announced, according to state news agency Xinhua.

Yutu is scheduled to land later in the month and explore the surface for three months, marking the first time a Chinese spacecraft has soft-landed on the surface of an extraterrestrial body.

China already launched its first moon orbiter, Chang'e-1, back in 2007, which has taken photos of the surface and analysed the Moon's elements. The second unmanned probe, Chang'e-2, went up in 2010 and has been researching the space rock and running tests in preparation for the country's lunar landing.

Ouyang Ziyuan, chief scientist of the lunar orbiter project, told Xinhua that Yutu would survey the moon's geological surface and analyse substances on the surface, while looking for natural resources. The rover is aiming to land in Sinus Iridum, or the Bay of Rainbows, a plain of basaltic lava that was chosen because its level terrain would help maintain communications.

The state administration spokesperson Wu Zhijian said that over 80 per cent of the technology that would be used in the mission was new.
 
Via The Drudge Report:

CHINA SUCCESSFULLY SOFT-LANDS PROBE ON THE MOON - Associated Press

The probe carried a six-wheeled moon rover called "Yutu," or "Jade Rabbit," the goddess' pet. After landing Saturday evening on a fairly flat, Earth-facing part of the moon, the rover was slated to separate from the Chang'e eight hours later and embark on a three-month scientific exploration.

5fea3392-3812-4a8f-9e7e-be2ea7c51ec0-big.jpg
This Saturday Dec. 14, 2013 photo released by China's Xinhua News Agency, shows a picture of the moon surface taken by the on-board camera of the lunar probe Chang'e-3 on the screen of the Beijing Aerospace Control Center in Beijing, capital of China. China on Saturday successfully carried out the world's first soft landing of a space probe on the moon in nearly four decades, the next stage in an ambitious space program that aims to eventually put a Chinese astronaut on the moon. (AP Photo/Xinhua, Wang Jianmin) NO SALES
 
http://www.spacedaily.com/reports/Chinas_Jade_Rabbit_lunar_rover_deployed_on_moon_Xinhua_999.html

China has deployed its lunar rover vehicle on the moon, state media said early Sunday, hours after carrying out the first soft landing on Earth's satellite since 1976 in a major step for Beijing's ambitious space programme.

The Yutu rover was deployed on the moon's surface "several hours" after the Chang'e-3 probe landed, according to official news agency Xinhua, making China the third country to complete a lunar rover mission, after the United States and the former Soviet Union.

Citing the Beijing Aerospace Control Center, the agency said the rover, whose name means "Jade Rabbit" in English, "has touched the lunar surface."

State television station CCTV tweeted an image that it said showed the rover separating from the lander at 4:35 am Beijing time (1935 GMT).

The rover will spend about three months exploring the moon's surface and looking for natural resources.

The Chang'e-3 mission is named after the goddess of the moon in Chinese mythology and the rover vehicle is called Yutu after her pet.

The landing marks the latest step in an ambitious space programme seen as a symbol of China's rising global stature and technological advancement, as well as the Communist Party's success in reversing the fortunes of the once-impoverished nation.
 
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ORIGINAL CAPTION: The Jade Rabbit, seen in this artist's impression, is the first wheeled vehicle on the Moon since the 1970s

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-25384057​
 
china-moon-rover_2765760c.jpg


http://www.telegraph.co.uk/science/space/10517762/Chinese-probe-lands-on-the-Moon-as-space-programme-gathers-pace.html

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http://news.yahoo.com/china-39-39-jade-rabbit-39-lunar-rover-220110008.html​
 
china-change-3-lands-moon-successfully-yutu-rover-14.jpg

[ORIGINAL CAPTION: Artist's conception of YuTu lunar rover deployment from China's Chang'e-3 lunar lander (Image: CNSA)]

http://www.gizmag.com/china-change-3-moon-landing/30128/

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xfNb0jeTi2s#t=18​
 
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-25393826

The landing site of Sinus Iridum is a flat volcanic plain, part of a larger feature known as Mare Imbrium that forms the right eye of the "Man in the Moon".
 
Landing and rover deployment :
http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x18glxk_chine-la-descente-vers-la-lune-filmee-en-camera-embarquee_news
 
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=k3DeTFUiwRU
http://www.militaryphotos.net/forums/showthread.php?233752-China-s-Rover-Sends-Back-Lunar-Panorama-Image​
 
Jade%20Rabbot%20Lander.jpg

http://www.dvice.com/2013-12-16/chinas-jade-rabbit-rover-successfully-lands-deploys-moon

Change-3-1st-Pano_Ken-Kremer.jpg


cn_rover_1.jpg

http://www.dvice.com/2013-12-27/image-day-panorama-moon


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Original Caption: The lander (top arrow) and Yutu (bottom arrow) cast shadows across the Lunar "soil"
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-25559061​
 
On a related note: http://www.space.com/24055-china-moon-sample-return-mission.html



china-chang'e-moon-rover-131205c-02.jpg

http://www.space.com/23855-how-china-change3-moon-rover-works-infographic.html​
 
http://ca.news.yahoo.com/china-39-moon-rover-lander-spotted-nasa-spacecraft-170031007.html
 
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-china-25908527

China's Jade Rabbit Moon rover is in trouble after experiencing a "mechanical control abnormality", state media report.

The Moon exploration vehicle ran into problems due to the moon's "complicated lunar surface environment", Xinhua news agency said, citing science officials.

The rover landed in December as part of China's Chang'e-3 mission - the first "soft" landing on the Moon since 1976.

It was expected to operate for around three months.

Earlier this month, the Beijing Aerospace Control Centre said that Jade Rabbit, also known as Yutu, had successfully explored the surface of the Moon with its mechanical arm.

Lunar night

The malfunction emerged before the rover entered its scheduled dormancy period on Saturday, Xinhua reported, citing the State Administration of Science, Technology and Industry for National Defence (SASTIND).

Scientists were organising repairs, the news agency added, without providing further details.

The rover was due to become dormant for 14 days during the lunar night, when there would be no sunlight to power the rover's solar panel, reports said.

The malfunctioning rover presents the first public mishap China's ambitious space programme has experienced in years, following several successful manned space flights, the BBC's Celia Hatton in Beijing reports.

Xinhua said the news of the rover's troubles had generated extensive discussion on Chinese social media.

"People not only hailed the authority's openness to the accident, but also expressed concern," it said.

On Sina Weibo, China's largest microblog provider, users began tagging their posts with the hash tag "#hang in there Jade Rabbit".

Users also circulated comic strips depicting a rabbit on the Moon, and rabbit-themed pictures, while expressing their support for the rover.

User Jessica_S_AC_USK wrote: "I want to cry. Go Jade Rabbit, even if we fail this time, we still have next time - our Chinese Jade Rabbit's goal is the sea of stars! We will not give up easily."

Referring to a Chinese folktale about a rabbit on the Moon, another microblog user wrote: "Whatever happens, we must thank Jade Rabbit. When our generation tells stories to our children, we can confidently say: 'There really is a Jade Rabbit on the moon!'
 
Guess China is seeing that this space business is not as easy as they first thought it was. And they were talking about a manned mission in 2020? Back to the drawing boards for China
 
The Moon is harsh mistress to space probe

the YuTu Rover ran into a problem after 42 days.
not bad for first timer on moon

comparing with first US landing mission
Surveyor 1 had after 43 days a malfuction in his battery could work for a year until it broke.
Surveyor 3 work only for 13 days.
Surveyor 5 was the first to work for 91 days perfect

Comparing with First Soviet Mission
Lunar 9 work only 3 days on lunar surface
Lunar 13 work so for 10 days on lunar surface
Lunochod 1 manage to work for 322 days

the future Chang’e probes will work much longer on lunar surface...
 
What did it do for 42 days? There's been very little released.
 
We don't even know if Jade Rabbit is permanently dead yet, do we? The interesting thing will be to see if they can troubleshoot the problem and fix it in the field. NASA has had some amazing success with this (some not so amazing failures too). We haven't yet seen China try to do the same very much. If they do manage to come up with a fix, that would be a positive indication, I think. In some ways, it could be even more important than running a flawless mission.


Any way that this ends up, it shoudn't have much bearing on their manned mission program. If that fails, suspect it will have a lot more too do with budgets than technology. All of the basic tech is well understood now and China has access to .
 
Michel Van said:
The Moon is harsh mistress to space probe

the YuTu Rover ran into a problem after 42 days.
not bad for first timer on moon

comparing with first US landing mission
Surveyor 1 had after 43 days a malfuction in his battery could work for a year until it broke.
Surveyor 3 work only for 13 days.
Surveyor 5 was the first to work for 91 days perfect

Comparing with First Soviet Mission
Lunar 9 work only 3 days on lunar surface
Lunar 13 work so for 10 days on lunar surface
Lunochod 1 manage to work for 322 days

the future Chang’e probes will work much longer on lunar surface...


The Russian and American probes to the moon happened in the 1960s when electronics and computers were crude unwieldy things and knowledge of the lunar environment was largely unknown. In the case of this Chinese lunar mission they had the advantage of significant technological tailwinds where electronics are much more reliable and a large base of knowledge of what the moon is about is available at your fingertips.


To compare this Chinese mission to early Russian and American lunar missions is not valid. China is following a well traveled path and is breaking no new ground.
 
http://www.dvice.com/2014-1-28/china%E2%80%99s-lunar-rover-malfunctions-leaves-sad-dying-message
 
Apparently YuTus death has been somewhat exaggerated.


http://news.yahoo.com/china-39-39-jade-rabbit-39-lunar-rover-175625972.html
 
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/asia/china/11202900/China-celebrates-successful-Moon-probe.html
China become first country to “soft-land” on the Moon in nearly four decades last December, deploying a six-wheeled buggy called the “Yutu” or “Jade Rabbit” to take photographs and soil samples.

However, the “Jade Rabbit” ran into trouble shortly after touchdown. Its functions had now “degraded considerably,” Xinhua admitted on Saturday.
 
http://gizmodo.com/what-chinas-yutu-rover-learned-on-the-moon-1748929821
 
http://www.space-travel.com/reports/Change_3_landing_site_named_Guang_Han_Gong_999.html
 
http://gizmodo.com/these-are-the-first-photos-taken-from-the-surface-of-th-1756827433
 
Follow up mission, Chang'e 4, which landed the Yutu 2 rover back in January:
https://www.space.com/42890-china-moon-far-side-rover-yutu-2-success.html
https://www.space.com/nasa-moon-probe-chinese-farside-rover-photos.html
 
Good news that Yutu-2 is still going strong on the Lunar far-side, any idea as to how long the mission is expected to last?
 

On Dec. 1, 2013, China launched its first-ever mission to land a rover on the moon. With the Yutu rover on board, the Chang'e 3 moon lander lifted off from the Xichang Satellite Launch Center on a modified Long March 3B rocket.


The mission was named after Chang'e, the goddess of the moon in Chinese mythology. The rover, Yutu, was named after the Jade Rabbit, who was a companion of the moon goddess.

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ORIGINAL CAPTION: China's Yutu moon rover, photographed by the Chang'e 3 lander on Dec. 16, 2013. (Image credit: CASC/China Ministry of Defense)
 

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