Moon landing 2013 (Chang'e 3)

[camlost]

Of course China is in the middle of an intensive space campaign

Why am I seeing this cliche again and again? If China was in an "intense campaign" at least Long March-5 development would have started 10 years earlier.

I haven't really paid much attention to the Chinese space program to be honest. I knew that the first component of the station was in orbit, but I didn't know it got any farther than that.

Tiangong -1 is not going to be the core component of the future station. It is actually near retirement. There will be something like Tiangong-3.

[Tiberion]

Why am I seeing this cliche again and again? If China was in an "intense campaign" at least Long March-5 development would have started 10 years earlier.

I don't know why the word intensive bothers you so much. I was simply referring to the last decade in the Chinese program, which has certainly seen a focused effort by them to become a major space power. They launch 3x as many rockets per year as they averaged back then, and the manned space programs achievements lie mostly within this same period of time (1st Chinese in orbit, first manned docking, an orbital lab module) and now they have a cool moon rover.

Now don't get me wrong, I have reservations and critiques about their space program and its future goals, and I find it mind boggling that the common reaction to something China does in space is "Ha ha suck it, NASA" but it would be hard to argue that its not been a very good decade for China's space ambitions.

Maybe its not the "middle" - I just assumed they'll follow-through with more exploration of the Moon and/or Mars, as well as some sort of station.

[camlost]

I find it mind boggling that the common reaction to something China does in space is "Ha ha suck it, NASA"

That's exactly my point. And I find the opposite reaction of "USA numbo won, suck it China" equally stupid.

[Lohan2008]

China plans to launch at least 35 satellites for it own GPS coverage in the foreseeable future, not sure when but ksp'ers should keep watching.

Meanwhile, great job China.

[Lohan2008]

Panoramic picture of Chang'e-3's landing spot sent back

http://english.cntv.cn/program/china24/20131221/104383.shtml

[deadshot462]

Lunar Recon Orbiter (LRO) took some close up pics of Chang'e and Yutu from a low orbit pass:

China's been quiet about which direction Yutu will be headed, I'm sure LRO will keep tracking..

[czokletmuss]

First photo of Earth taken by Chang'e 3:

Yes, this is you. And every other living human.

Earth in ultraviolet

360 panorama:

Edited January 11, 2014 by czokletmuss

[czokletmuss]

Yutu has woken up, folks!

China's moon rover "Yutu" (Jade Rabbit) and the Chang'e-3 lander have just "woken up" after a period of dormancy that lasted two weeks, or one lunar night, in a move designed to ride out harsh climactic conditions.

Yutu was awakened autonomously at 5:09 a.m. Beijing Time on Saturday and has finished necessary setting procedures and entered a normal working mode following orders from the Beijing Aerospace Control Center (BACC), according to a statement issued by the BACC on Sunday.

It has started its rove around the moon surface and scientific missions.

Chang'e-3 has also been awakened automatically at 8:21 a.m. on Sunday, and is currently in normal condition, the statement said.

One night on the moon lasts about 14 days on Earth, during which the temperature falls below minus 180 celsius and there is no sunlight to provide power to the instruments' solar panels.

"During the lunar night, the lander and the rover were in a power-off condition and the communication with Earth was also cut off," said Zhou Jianliang, chief engineer of the BACC.

"When the night ends, they will be started up with the power provided by sunlight and resume operation and communication according to preset programs," Zhou said.

The awakening of the rover and lander marks the success of Chinese technology in surviving the lunar night, and the center will instruct the two instruments to carry on scheduled exploration missions, the chief engineer added.

Chang'e-3 soft-landed on the moon's Sinus Iridium, or the Bay of Rainbows, on Dec. 14 last year, and Yutu later separated from the lander.

The rover fell asleep on Dec. 26 as the mission's first lunar night arrived.

Source: http://www.moondaily.com/reports/Moon_rover_lander_wake_after_lunar_night_999.html

[SuperFastJellyfish]

Earth in ultraviolet

http://planetary.s3.amazonaws.com/assets/images/3-moon/2014/20140110_125988104_13893601037561n_f537.jpg

I don't think I've ever seen a picture of earth in ultraviolet. Are those the Van Allen belts?

[czokletmuss]

I guess it is - we can see the plasma trapped in Van Allen belts here.

The extreme ultraviolet camera on Chang'e 3 studies the plasma environment around Earth at a wavelength of 63 nanometers. This image was taken shortly after Chang'e 3's landing, on December 16, 2013.

Source: http://www.planetary.org/blogs/emily-lakdawalla/2014/01100912-finally-some-high-quality-change3.html

By the way, it turns out it was a computer inhanced image; the real thing looks like this:

[czokletmuss]

More data and images from Yutu and Chang'e 3 here: http://www.planetary.org/blogs/emily-lakdawalla/2014/01141430-updates-on-change-3.html

[stupid_chris]

Hey guys, had to do some slight thread cleaning here, remembering everyone to not delve into the political side of this topic, the forum is not the place to discuss this.

Carry on.

[specs]

Edit: thanks Chris!

BTW OP, love the coverage. Keep it up! +rep just for the scientific literacy.

Edited January 15, 2014 by specs

[czokletmuss]

Chang'e 3 lunar panorama:

[czokletmuss]

Phases of the Earth:

[czokletmuss]

Bejing, we've had a problem:

BEIJING, Jan. 25 (Xinhua) -- China's moon rover, Yutu (Jade Rabbit), has experienced a mechanical control abnormality, and scientists are organizing repairs. The abnormality occurred due to "complicated lunar surface environment," the State Administration of Science, Technology and Industry for National Defence (SASTIND) said on Saturday, without giving further details. The abnormality emerged before the rover entered its second dormancy at dawn on Saturday as the lunar night fell, according to SASTIND. The lander, another part of the Chang'e-3 probe, also "fell asleep" earlier on Friday.

Source: http://www.planetary.org/blogs/emily-lakdawalla/2014/01251527-bad-news-for-yutu-rover.html

And all of this after roving for only 100 meters - let's hope they'll figure it out and find a solution

[Albert VDS]

May I suggest sending some mechanics up to fix it.

[dharak1]

Seems like a good solution.

[cypher_00]

What happened? Did it run out of carrots?

[lajoswinkler]

What happened? Did it run out of carrots?

China Space Facebook page says: " Early reports indicate that there is a problem with folding the solar panels back into Yutu before the lunar night. But we will have to wait for confirmation."

If it doesn't fold the panels, it might get damaged.

[sgt_flyer]

Not only damage risks, but if the solar panels are not in their correct position for hibernation, they might not be correctly facing the sun once the night ends - not enough power, and they might not be able to resume operations with it.

[czokletmuss]

Translation from the official Yutu blog made by Reddit user xuanyou:

A bit of cultural context:

* This is written as a diary from the point of view of Yutu(玉å…â€)(Jade Rabbit), the rover

* 师父(shi-fu) means kung-fu master or teacher. Here, Yutu is referring to the scientists at mission control

* 嫦娥三姠(Third elder sister Chang'E) refers to Chang'E 3

* Yutu thinks of himself as Chang'E's little brother

Diary of Yutu: I might not survive the night.

Hi everyone! Today is the 42nd Earth day since I arrived on the moon. I've got some good news, and a piece of bad news. Which would you like to hear first?

The first good news is: After 42 days of hard work, I've rolled over 100 metres across the moon! All the equipment that I've brought along -- ground-penetrating radar, stereo cameras, alpha particle X-ray spectrometer and infrared spectrometer -- have collected lots of useful data... When going on a long trip, it would be such a shame if the equipment you brought along couldn't be put to good use.

The second bit of good news is: the day before yesterday, at dawn, I spoke with the lander over 20 metres away. I did this all by myself, without shi-fu's help, using my UHF antenna! Even though she can't respond, I'm sure she's really happy. Well, what I whispered to her is a secret, so please don't ask me what I told her...

The third piece of good news is: yesterday morning, the lander has fallen asleep, all prepared to welcome the next lunar night.

The bad news is: I should have fallen asleep this morning. But before going to sleep, my shi-fus found an abnormality in my control mechanisms. Some parts of my body aren't listening to my shi-fus. Now, my shi-fus are racking their brains and forgoing sleep, trying to come up with a solution. I hear that their eyes have become as red as a rabbit's.

Even so, I know it's possible that I won't survive the night. Before we set off, the lander and I learned the history of mankind's lunar exploration. In over 130 lunar exploration activities, about half succeeded, and half failed. Some didn't land, some lost contact with Earth after landing, some rovers got lost, and some rovers didn't take their first step. Such is space exploration, as dangerous as it is beautiful. And here I am, a tiny speck in the vast map of space exploration.

This time, I landed together with Third elder sister Chang'E, and sent back so much data. We've completed the mission our shi-fus tasked us with. I hoped to romp around here for three months, and tell all of you about the rocks and boulders I found, the secrets hiding beneath the moon's surface, the story of Chang'E and me... but even if this trip has to be cut short, I'm not afraid. Regardless whether I can be repaired, my failure will give my shi-fus valuable information and experience.

Don't worry. In 2017, Chang'E 5 will come here, and continue telling the story where I left off. Right now, the lander is working fine, and will continue to work on the moon for at least 1 year. But she still doesn't know about my problem... I hope that shi-fu will help me recover. But if I don't get better, please help me comfort her.

The sun has set here on the moon, and it's getting very cold very quickly. I've already said so much today, but it never feels like it's enough. I'll let you in on a secret. Actually, I don't feel very sad. Like all protagonists, in the story of my own adventure, I've just hit a little problem.

Goodnight, Earth. Goodnight, humanity.

Edited January 28, 2014 by czokletmuss

[lajoswinkler]

Those reddit posts are quite uncanny, at least to me.

I thought only some of the rover's equipment will fail during the night, like the camera.

[Lohan2008]

Barely six weeks into its three-month exploration of the moon, the Jade Rabbit rover was hit by a mechanical fault that left it unable to put itself into hibernation.

Because it can't hibernate, the Jade Rabbit isn't able to protect its instruments from the below-freezing temperatures of the lunar night, which lasts for half of one Earth month. Communication with the Jade Rabbit is impossible during the lunar night, so its exact fate won't be known until around February 8.

http://news.ninemsn.com.au/technology/2014/01/28/11/14/chinese-lunar-rover-cutely-broadcasts-own-death

;(

Edited January 28, 2014 by Lohan2008

[Streetwind]

That's unfortunate. Here's hoping that it somehow survives till February 8th...