Jade Rabbit close to icy end
Print Edition
CHINA’S troubled Yutu, or Jade Rabbit, moon rover is still alive after more than five months on the moon but is heading for an icy death.
The rover, which was launched in December, can still send data back to Earth, Li Benzheng, deputy commander-in-chief of China’s lunar program, said yesterday.
But its functionality has been weakened considerably by the bitterly cold lunar nights.
It is unable to move after its wheels broke down, Li said, and is suffering from chills after solar panels for thermal insulation during freezing lunar nights stopped working.
“With each lunar night, the functionality of Yutu is yet again weakened,” Li said.
The rover turns dormant and stops sending signals during the lunar night — two-week periods when the part of the moon’s surface on which it is sited rotates away from the sun and temperatures turn extremely cold.
The Jade Rabbit, named after the pet of a mythical goddess of the moon in Chinese mythology, was deployed on the lunar surface on December 15.
But it experienced a “mechanical control abnormality” in January, leading to fears in China it might never revive.
To the nation’s relief, it started sending signals again in mid-February.
The rover was designed to roam the lunar surface for at least three months to survey the moon’s geological structure and surface substances and look for natural resources.
But problems emerged before Yutu entered its second dormancy on the moon on January 25 as the lunar night fell.
According to the State Administration of Science, Technology and Industry for National Defense, the mechanical abnormality occurred due to the “complicated lunar surface.”
One night on the moon is about 14 days on Earth, during which the temperature falls below minus 180 degrees Celsius.
During the lunar night, there is no sunlight to power Yutu’s solar panels.
In this period, the rover is expected to stay in a power-off mode and communication with Earth is cut.
Experts had feared that it might never function again, but Yutu has so far managed to survive the bitter cold.
Li noted that the rover had already “over-served” its time on the moon.
“Yutu is really tough. We are really happy about that,” he added.
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