Category Archives: Chinese space

Chinese space, The Moon

Update on the Chinese Yutu lunar rover and Chang’e 3 lander

Leonard David obtains some details on the problems with the Chinese Yutu rover from  Yong-Chun Zheng, an associate researcher at the National Astronomical Observatories, Chinese Academy of Sciences : China’s Moon Landing Mission: A Status Check – Inside Outer Space

The primary failure is in the “driving electronics section”:

“The rover cannot move again,” Yong-Chun said. In addition to that, the solar wings of the Yutu rover cannot be folded to keep the inside of the robot warm during lunar night. All other functions of the rover are working properly, he said.

Yong-Chun said that the Yutu rover has experienced very low temperatures during the last three lunar nights. According the designed procedures, the rover has entered into the mode of long-term management.

Meanwhile, Yutu’s panoramic camera and its ground penetrating radar “are working normally,” Yong-Chun reported.

Astronomy, Chinese space, The Moon

First images from the UV telescope on Chang’e-3 lander

International Lunar Observatory Association (ILOA) has been collaborating with

the National Astronomical Observatories -Chinese Academy of Sciences (NAOC) & China National Space Administration (CNSA) to conduct Galaxy Imaging with the Lunar Ultraviolet Telescope aboard the Chang’e-3 lunar lander currently at Sinus Iridum on the lunar surface. In September 2012, ILOA signed a MoU with the NAOC-CAS. This was followed up with a MOU between ILOA and CNSA in August 2013. In exchange for the use of the Chang’e-3 LUT, ILOA will provide observation time to NAOC during its ILO-X and ILO-1 missions.

 – Mission Update January 2014: The start of permanet human operations on the Moon – ILOA.

Today they released for the first time some of the images captured by the LUT on the Chang’e 3 lander : Astronomy from the Moon: ILOA Acquires Exclusive Images from Chang’e-3 Lunar Ultraviolet / Optical Telescope.

Professor Jianyan Wei, principal investigator of the  LUT instrument, indicated that the testing and commissioning phase is complete and all the telescope systems are operating nominally. He reports that the LUT already has captured over 22,000 astronomical images. The 150-mm diameter, near ultraviolet telescope is the payload that has operated the longest and obtained the most data since the 14 December 2013 Moon landing of Chang’e-3.

While the telescope is small and won’t compete with the major UV space observatories, it is still an interesting demo. UV astronomy must be done outside of the earth’s atmosphere and someday UV astronomy might be one of the tasks for a lunar base.

VariableStarObsrvations

Chinese space, Space Systems, The Moon

More on the Jade Rabbit’s ailments + The next Chinese lunar missions

A few more details dribble out regarding the problems tht China’s Yutu (Jade Rabbit) rover is having on the Moon: China Exclusive: Control circuit malfunction troubles China’s Yutu – Xinhua

China’s Yutu (Jade Rabbit) moon rover suffered a control circuit malfunction in its driving unit, which troubled its dormancy in extremely low temperature, a scientist said on Saturday.

The control circuit problem prevented Yutu from entering the second dormancy as planned, Ye Peijian, chief scientist of the Chang’e-3 program, told Xinhua in an exclusive interview.

“Normal dormancy needs Yutu to fold its mast and solar panels,” said Ye. “The driving unit malfunction prevented Yutu to do those actions.”

The rover is currently in another 2 week long night and will experience extremely low temperatures. The rover has radioisotope heater units (RHUs) to keep its internal systems warm. However, if the rover is not configured properly before a night period starts, e.g. closing panels to keep heat from escaping and putting solar panels in the right orientation, it may have problems powering back up when daylight returns.

[ Update: A discussion of the rover’s problems: You Too, Yutu? – Daily Planet/Air & Space Magazine.]

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Meanwhile, China’s space agency is proceeding with preparations for the Chang’e 4 lunar lander/rover mission in 2015 and the Chang’e 5 sample return mission  in 2017: Preparation for Chang’e-5 launch on schedule – Xinhua.

Chinese space, Space Systems, The Moon

Chinese media say lunar rover shows signs of life

Chinese sources now say that Yutu was not dead but just sleeping or pining for the lunar fjords :

China’s moon rover Yutu is awake after its troubled dormancy but experts are still trying to find out the cause of its abnormality, a spokesman with the country’s lunar probe program said on Thursday.

“Yutu has come back to life,” said Pei Zhaoyu, the spokesman.

Chinese space, Space Science, Space Systems

Chinese rover Yutu experiences mechanical problem

Yutu, China’s Jade Rabbit rover on the Moon, has some sort of mechanical control issue:  China Exclusive: China’s moon rover experiences abnormality – 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.

I’m sure the Chinese team will have a plan on how to deal with the problem when the rover is reactivated after the two week long lunar night is over.

The article goes on to describe various tests and research activities that the rover and the Chang’e 3 lander have been doing for the past lunar day.