Chang'e 3 - China Rover Separates From Lander, Now On Moon's Surface

[rdunk]

You probably noticed that reply#206 just above also included Dec 23 in the text, to play along with the numbers thing!

[rdunk]

Well, all is not well with China's Chang'e Rover 3. While their news release doesn't say much specifically about the problem, it seems they are open about it.


China Exclusive: China's moon rover experiences abnormality

English.news.cn   2014-01-25 15:01:46      
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.

The pair went dormant for two weeks about one month ago when the first lunar night of the mission occurred.

Two similar but different articles on this are below - the second article includes note of tens of thousands of the people's blessings having been extended to rover Yutu!

http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/china/2014-01/25/c_133073239.htm

http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/china/2014-01/26/c_133075811.htm

[deuem]

JUST a JOKE:

Looks like the scientists have to go into the next room and give the rover a kick in the butt to get it out of the sand trap. Why none of these craft don't use treads is beyond me. Tanks use them all the time. Scientist 1. You made the sand too sloft, scientist 2, no you made it too deep. I told you 50 mm not 50 cm! Now go dig it out and rack it clean again. Restart in two weeks. Scientist 1, yea ok but next time we use clay like the americans did.

Silly Deuem

[Lunica]

So it will be "broken" for the public.
In the meantime rovering   the moon?

[rdunk]

Ha Ha!! Well, every day is a new day on the moon, except............one night on the moon lasts for about 14 days!

China too may play their own game, but thus far most everything seems to be pretty straight to me.

At least China claims to have a Rover that "moves on"!  Rover Yutu travels a 200 yards per hour (120 inches per second), and NASA's Rover Opportunity 's maximum speed is 2 inches per second, while Curiosity's max sped is 1.5 inches per second - so much for American technology!!

[deuem]

That's it that little Rabbit is getting a speeding ticket.

What a shame 2 inches a second. Maybe in a million years it can travel the planet. Where is Flux to fix this slow moving turtle of the NASA world.

Deuem

[rdunk]

The saga of Yutu continues!

Waiting for Yutu

by Morris Jones
Sydney, Australia (SPX) Feb 03, 2014

Yutu on the moon.
It's been more than a week since China's first robot lunar rover developed some serious mechanical problems. It was unable to fold one of its two solar panels inwards to protect its most sensitive components from the cold lunar night. We will need to wait longer to find out exactly how much damage Yutu has sustained from two weeks of darkness, but the prognosis for some of its parts is not good.

It's a shame that Yutu has suffered from these problems, but it is a common element of spaceflight. Yutu is the first Chinese rover to work in space, and it is operating in an environment that is even more hazardous than Mars.

More: http://www.spacedaily.com/reports/Waiting_for_Yutu_999.html

[Norval]

Todays APOD, , , ,

http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap140203.html

Notice the missing tracks in the photo? How did it get there from where?
Pan far right to see the missing tracks. Or, did I miss something? Just waking up here with the morning hot drink.

[The Seeker]

Norval, I am sure that Armap or someone will come up with a plausible explanation for why there are no visible tracks; might have something to do with with it being a panorama composed of many different shots...

or it levitated...


seeker

[Norval]

ahhh almost awake now, , thanks, , yeppers yer probably correct, , because of the panoramic shots overlaid the tracks, , DOHHHhhh 

[WarToad]

Todays APOD, , , ,

http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap140203.html

Notice the missing tracks in the photo? How did it get there from where?
Pan far right to see the missing tracks. Or, did I miss something? Just waking up here with the morning hot drink.

Doesn't appear to be a 360 degree panorama, maybe 180 at the most.(I don't know - maybe more, but it doesn't look 360)  Fair amount of missing landscape in my opinion. Plus it notes the rover will be heading to the right, so tracks could certainly be out of view.

[The Seeker]

Ha Ha!! Well, every day is a new day on the moon, except............one night on the moon lasts for about 14 days!

China too may play their own game, but thus far most everything seems to be pretty straight to me.

At least China claims to have a Rover that "moves on"!  Rover Yutu travels a 200 yards per hour (120 inches per second), and NASA's Rover Opportunity 's maximum speed is 2 inches per second, while Curiosity's max sped is 1.5 inches per second - so much for American technology!!

Me thinks someone needs to re-do the math; 200 yards= 600 feet per hour= 10 feet per minute=2  inches per second...


seeker

[rdunk]

Me thinks someone needs to re-do the math; 200 yards= 600 feet per hour= 10 feet per minute=2  inches per second...


seeker

Bwahahahahaha! You are right seeker! I am not even going back to see where that came from!

[ArMaP]

Norval, I am sure that Armap or someone will come up with a plausible explanation for why there are no visible tracks; might have something to do with with it being a panorama composed of many different shots...

That's the most likely explanation.

[rdunk]

Ok everyone, get out your Kleenex for the tears! There may be a funeral to be scheduled for China's Moon Rover Yutu.       

Farewell to Yutu
by Morris Jones

Sydney, Australia (SPX) Feb 12, 2014

"By now, it seems almost certain that China's Yutu Moon rover has died a premature death in the cold lunar night. The rover has been exposed to sunlight for a few days, and there has been no word of it waking up.

Yutu was carried to the Moon aboard China's Chang'e-3 Moon lander, a boxy structure reminiscent of the base of an Apollo lunar lander from the 1960s. Chang'e-3 made history by becoming China's first mission to land on the Moon, and the first object to softly land there in more than three decades.

Yutu's problems began roughly three weeks ago when a solar panel failed to fold inwards over the rover's body, just before night fell at the rover's landing site. The folding panel was designed to protect the rover's interior during the two-week lunar night, by trapping heat from a radioisotope source. Without this protection, the rover's electronics have apparently frozen".


Please note, the author of this article does say, "it seems ALMOST certain" - "Certainty" will have to come from China.

Full article:
http://www.spacedaily.com/reports/Farewell_to_Yutu_999.html