Here’s a cool video from the Chang’e 3 spacecraft as it came in for a landing on the Moon: Amazing Chang’e 3 descent video – The Planetary Society
Category Archives: Space Systems
Chang’e 3 update: Pictures from Yutu
11:30 am ET: Some info from the CCTV discussion before it ended:
- Several instruments on the vehicles are now working such as the ground-penetrating radar
- The rover will hibernate between Dec 16 to 23 to avoid the heat of the lunar noon.
- Lander and rover will hibernate during the two week lunar night.
The Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter Camera site posts images of where they believe the Chang’e 3 landed: Safe On The Surface Of The Moon! – LROC News System
More at
- Color photo of Yutu rover and Chang’e lander, and more on the Chang’e 3 landing site – The Planetary Society
- A New Site to Explore on the Moon – The Once and Future Moon
11:15 am ET: The CCTV program on the lunar mission has apparently ended for today.
NASA has no formal co-operative research interactions with the Chinese lunar program. This statement describes the agency’s current lunar projects and how they might benefit from the Chinese lander and rover: China’s Lunar Lander May Provide Additional Science for NASA Spacecraft – NASA
10:55am ET: Some formal statements were made by Chinese officials about the success of the mission. The control room is enormous compared to what one would see at JPL or JSC today.
10:45 am ET: This image is of the rover as seen by the lander:
10:43 am ET: This image is being distributed around the web:
The first public image of the lander as seen from the Yutu rover.
10:39 am EST: The Yutu rover is expected soon to start sending back pictures of the Chang’e 3 lander. The CCTV site is currently broadcasting coverage of the Chang’e 3 mision: CCTV News Live – CDN Live Streaming – CCTV Program online.
This site has lots of details about the mission: Chang’e 3 Mission Updates – SPACEFLIGHT101
Chinese rover moves onto the surface of the Moon
The Yutu rover has now rolled onto the surface of the Moon from the Chang’e 3 lander.
Update: More from Emily Lakdawalla on the rover’s deployment: Six wheels on soil for Yutu! – The Planetary Society
CNSA / CCTV / Emily Lakdawalla
Chang’e 3 rover Yutu rolls onto the lunar surface
ISS cooling pump malfunctions. Troubleshooting underway
The International Space Station has a cooling problem today. Here is an update from NASA:
Update on Space Station Cooling System
Earlier Wednesday, the pump module on one of the space station’s two external cooling loops automatically shut down when it reached pre-set temperature limits. These loops circulate ammonia outside the station to keep both internal and external equipment cool. The flight control teams worked to get the cooling loop back up and running, and they suspect a flow control valve actually inside the pump itself might not be functioning correctly.
At no time was the crew or the station itself in any danger, but the ground teams did work to move certain electrical systems over to the second loop. Some non-critical systems have been powered down inside the Harmony node, the Kibo laboratory and the Columbus laboratory while the teams work to figure out what caused the valve to not function correctly and how to fix it. The crew is safe and preparing to begin a normal sleep shift while experts on the ground collect more data and consider what troubleshooting activities may be necessary.
Update Dec.12.13: A report on the cooling loop problem:
NASA Morpheus vehicle flies without a tether
NASA’s Project Morpheus has moved their vertical takeoff, vertical landing (VTVL) vehicle (modeled after Armadillo Aerospace‘s quad vehicles) to Kennedy Space Center, where they can do un-tethered free flights. The first such free flight test took place today: