Lunar rover sets record for length of stay on moon
Print Edition
China’s first lunar rover Yutu has been operating on the moon for almost two years, setting the record for the longest stay by such a machine, according to a Chinese scientist.
Yutu was deployed via China’s Chang’e-3 lunar probe in 2013, and has now spent twice as much time on moon as the Soviet Union’s Lunokhod 1, which landed on the satellite in 1970 and spent 11 months there.
The operations of the Chinese vehicle are streamed live through Weibo, the account for which has 600,000 followers.
Yutu experienced a mechanical problem last year, but it was revived within a month and, though it is unable to move, it continues to collect data, send and receive signals, and record images and video.
“People are brimming with curiosity about the universe,” said Ye Peijian, chief scientist with the Chang’e-3 program.
“We have to explore more by going out,” he said.
In 1970, China became the fifth country — after the Soviet Union, United States, France and Japan — to put a domestic satellite, Dongfanghong-1, into orbit using its own rocket.
China launched its manned space program in the 1990s, and successfully sent Yang Liwei into orbit on the Shenzhou-5 spacecraft in 2003.
The Chang’e-1 mission in 2007 inaugurated an era of Chinese lunar exploration, followed by Chang’e-2 and Chang’e-3, with the latter marking completion of the second phase of China’s lunar program, which includes orbiting, landing and returning to Earth.
Chang’e-3 delivered the rover and a stationary lander to the lunar surface in 2013, making China the third country — after the Soviet Union and the US — to carry out such a mission.
China is now planning to become the first country to land a probe on the far side of the moon, which is never visible on Earth.
The mission will be carried out by Chang’e-4, a backup probe for Chang’e-3, Ye said.
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