posted 12-01-2013 08:41 AM               

This thread is for comments and questions regarding China's first robotic moon landing mission and the updates published under the topic: China's Chang'e-3 lunar probe and rover "Yutu".

Chang'e-3, encompassing a lander and a moon rover, will mark the first time China has attempted to soft land a spacecraft on the surface of a celestial body.

posted 12-01-2013 12:18 PM               

The lander successfully separated from its Long March 3B rocket, deployed its four legs and extended its two solar panels.

posted 12-01-2013 03:37 PM               

Moon Express Enables Private American Scientific Collaboration on China Moon Mission

Moon Express, a U.S. commercial lunar enterprise, is enabling scientific collaboration between the International Lunar Observatory Association (ILOA) and China's Chang'e-3 Moon mission successfully launched today from the Xichang Satellite Launch Center in Sichuan province, southwest China.

The U.S. private sector collaboration on Chang'e-3 is made possible through a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) signed between ILOA and the National Astronomical Observatories, Chinese Academy of Sciences (NAOC) on September 4, 2012 in Hawaii, and a MOU signed between ILOA and the China National Space Administration (CNSA) on August 13, 2013, in Beijing.

The first such private U.S/China collaboration, the parties have agreed to an exchange in kind in which ILOA participates in observing and receives Galaxy, astronomical images from Chang's-3's Ultra-violet telescope and NAOC receives observing time on ILOA telescopes travelling to the Moon aboard Moon Express landers in 2015 and 2017. The collaboration is scientific and educational in nature, and will establish a cooperative program to conduct Galaxy, Astronomical Imaging for Global 21st Century Education from the lunar surface.

"As ILOA prepares for Galaxy 21st Century Education collaboration with the Chang'e-3 UV telescope, I hope today's successful launch of China's Chang'e-3 probe to the Moon will have a great impact on U.S.A. space policy in a positive and constructive way to insure the U.S.A. has robotic Moon operations leading to permanent human presence," said ILOA Founding Director, Steve Durst.

Moon Express has designed and built the International Lunar Observatory precursor (ILO-X) under contract to the ILOA and will deliver it to the lunar surface aboard Moon Express' inaugural mission in 2015. ILO-X is the world's first private lunar telescope and will be accessible over the internet, pioneering a new era of global space research and citizen science with space observation and communication technology on the Moon. The ILO-X is a precursor to the larger, permanent lunar observatory "ILO-1" – a multifunctional 2-meter dish scheduled to be delivered by Moon Express to the Moon's South Pole in 2017 to conduct Galaxy observation and commercial communications activities.

"We are beginning a new era of commercial lunar exploration," said Bob Richards, Moon Express co-founder and CEO and ILOA founding board member. "Moon Express is proud to be working with ILOA on a historic private sector science collaboration with China on the Chang'e-3 mission that, if successful, will be the first American scientific activity on the lunar surface in over forty years."

posted 12-04-2013 12:15 PM               

Two houses in China were damaged by falling pieces of a rocket launched on Monday, prompting calls for an insurance scheme to cover future damage from the country's ambitious space program, the China Daily newspaper reported on Wednesday.

No casualties were reported after the successful launch of China's first moon rover, Chang'e-3, from the Xichang Satellite Launch Centre in the southwestern province of Sichuan, but debris from the launch hurtled into a village in neighboring Hunan province.

A photograph in the newspaper showed a farmer standing by a desk-sized chunk of the rocket that had apparently smashed through his wooden roof.

posted 12-14-2013 08:43 AM               

Prior to touch down, the target landing site was said to be Sinus Iridum, the Bay of Rainbows. The animations suggested a landing in Mare Imbrium (Sea of Showers).

The landing took place considerably earlier than originally expected, and about 30 minutes before the pre-landing target as reported by Chinese media.

posted 12-15-2013 01:55 PM               

quote:

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Originally posted by keith.wilson:
Anyone know why they chose to land early?

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Whether by design or fortuitous accident, this site is actually more interesting geologically than the spacecraft's original destination...

posted 12-16-2013 05:26 PM               

I recall getting up in the middle of the night to "see" Surveyor 1 land in early June 1966. Back then, those 200 and 600 line black and white images seemed to be so magnificent.

posted 12-22-2013 06:26 PM               

Ken Kremer and Marco Di Lorenzo assembled stills from the broadcast to present the panorama in whole:

posted 12-30-2013 06:27 PM               

The rover is only about 150 cm wide, yet it shows up in the NAC images for two reasons: the solar panels are very effective at reflecting light so the rover shows up as two bright pixels, and the Sun is setting thus the rover casts a distinct shadow (as does the lander). Since the rover is close to the size of a pixel, how can we be sure we are seeing the rover and not a comparably sized boulder? Fortuitously, the NAC acquired a "before" image (M1127248516R) of the landing site, with nearly identical lighting, on 30 June 2013. By comparing the before and after landing site images, the LROC team confirmed the position of the lander and rover, and derived accurate map coordinates for the lander.

posted 01-25-2014 06:08 AM               

China's moon rover "Yutu" (Jade Rabbit) has had a mechanical control abnormity, and scientists are organizing an overhaul.

The abnormity occurred due to "the complicated lunar surface environment," the State Administration of Science, Technology and Industry for National Defence (SASTIND) said on Saturday, without giving further details.

The abnormity emerged before the rover went into its second dormancy at dawn on Saturday as the lunar night fell again, according to the SASTIND.