Moon landing a nod to China’s ancient folklore
Print Edition
China is to launch its first moon rover early next month, with the vehicle named Yutu, or Jade Rabbit, in a nod to Chinese folklore.
It will land on the moon in mid-December if everything goes according to plan, Wu Zhijian, spokesman for the State Administration of Science, Technology and Industry for National Defense, said yesterday.
Tasks for Yutu include surveying the moon’s geological structure and surface substances while looking for natural resources, Ouyang Ziyuan, chief scientist of the lunar orbiter project, said.
Yutu will land in Sinus Iridum, or Bay of Rainbows, and operate there for three months. The landing site was selected because its level terrain will enable smooth communications and ample sunshine. Previous lunar missions were near the lunar equator and no nation has yet surveyed the area.
The Bay of Rainbows was “left blank” in the study of the moon, Ouyang said.
Chinese scientists have made technological breakthroughs for Chang’e-3, which will be the most complicated and difficult task in China’s space exploration, Wu said. “More than 80 percent of the technology adopted in the mission is new,” he said.
China has previously sent two probes to orbit the moon, with controllers sending the first of them crashing into the lunar surface at the end of its mission.
The nation has ambitious plans to create a permanent space station by 2020 and eventually send a human to the moon.
A model of the gold-coloredmoon rover, with six wheels and wing-like solar panels, was put on show earlier this month. The 140-kilogram vehicle can climb inclines of up to 30 degrees and travel up to 200 meters per hour, its designers said. And it can withstand the vast temperature variations of the moon.
The Chang’e-3 mission comprises a lander and the moon rover.
The name Yutu derives from an ancient Chinese myth about a white rabbit which lives on the moon as the pet of Chang’e, a lunar goddess who swallowed an immortality pill.
Legend has it that, after swallowing the pill, Chang’e took Yutu and flew to the moon, where she became a goddess, living there ever since. The rabbit’s outline is said to be visible on the moon’s surface, similar to the Western concept of a “man in the moon.”
References to a moon rabbit date back to the Warring States period, which ended in 221BC.
Ouyang said the ancient beliefs had their origins in the marks left by impacts on the lunar landscape. “There are several black spots on the moon’s surface, our ancient people imagined they were a moon palace, osmanthus trees, and a jade rabbit,” he said.
The name received an enthusiastic welcome on Chinese social networking sites yesterday. “I look forward to the jade rabbit visiting the moon palace, go Chinese aerospace!” wrote one poster.
Yutu was chosen in an online poll after Chinese at home and abroad were invited to submit proposals for the rover’s name. About 190,000 proposals were received, and a 14-member jury selected the 10 most suitable.
Popular names included Tansuo (Explore) and Lanyue (Catch the Moon), the Beijing Times said. Another popular choice was Qian Xuesen, a late scientist considered the father of China’s space program.
In the final round of voting, about 650,000 people out of more than 3.4 million chose Yutu, said Li Benzheng, deputy commander-in-chief of China’s lunar program.
“Yutu is a symbol of kindness, purity and agility, and is identical to the moon rover in both outlook and connotation,” Li said.
China’s first lunar probe, Chang’e-1, launched in 2007.
The next, Chang’e-2, began its journey three years later and after orbiting the moon was sent on a mission into deep space to monitor an asteroid.
It is now more than 60 million kilometers from Earth and expected to travel 300 million kilometers, the longest voyage of any Chinese spacecraft.
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