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China's Chang'e-4 probe soft-lands on moon's far side - Xinhua

NASA Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter‏Verified account @LRO_NASA
I took this image of Chang’e 4 lander and rover from directly overhead at an altitude of 82 km. I plan to continue imaging the Chang’e 4 landing site as the angle of the sunlight changes. http://go.nasa.gov/u7tz


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Very few pics from moon rover
 
China's Chang'e-4 moon lander awakens for third sunrise on Moon
Updated 14:00, 01-Mar-2019
CGTN

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Chang'e-4, China's latest moon lander, awoke from a three-week hibernation at 7:52 BJT on Friday. The lander is now back to normal conditions and will continue its scientific exploration activities, according to a CCTV report.

The moon rover Yutu-2 also woke up earlier on February 28 and is functioning normally.

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Journey so far prior to last sleep on 11th Feb, about 120m.​
 
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Chang'e-4, China's latest moon lander, awoke from a three-week hibernation at 7:52 BJT on Friday. The lander is now back to normal conditions and will continue its scientific exploration activities, according to a CCTV report.

The moon rover Yutu-2 also woke up earlier on February 28 and is functioning normally.
 
China to open Chang'e-4 lunar probe data to world
Source: Xinhua| 2019-03-03 20:01:39|Editor: ZX

BEIJING, March 3 (Xinhua) -- China will gradually open data collected by the Chang'e-4 lunar probe to the world, the country's lunar program chief designer said.

Wu Weiren, an academician of the Chinese Academy of Engineering, made the statement in his capacity as a member of the 13th National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, the country's top political advisory body, on the sidelines of its annual session, which opened on Sunday.

The Chang'e-4 probe made the first-ever soft landing on the Von Karman Crater in the South Pole-Aitken Basin on the far side of the moon on Jan. 3.

Wu said both the lander and the rover have been woken up from a "sleep mode" and are now collecting new data.

Wu added that China plans to launch the Chang'e-5 probe later this year to collect samples from the moon and bring them back to the earth and to launch a probe in 2020 to orbit, land and rove on Mars.
 
中国航天科技集团
3月4日 17:51 来自 360安全浏览器
【探测石块、车辙!玉兔二号已累计行走约127米】嫦娥四号着陆器和巡视器唤醒后工作正常。巡视器已于3月3日18时25分进入月午。预计3月10日9时出月午,3月13日10时进行月夜休眠设置。第三月昼期间,巡视器对石块、车辙进行了科学探测。探测的石块最大直径约20厘米,探测时月球车距离石块约1.2米。
China Aerospace Science and Technology Corp
March 4th 17:51
[Detecting stones, track! Yutu No. 2 has traveled about 127 meters in total.]
The Chang'e Lander and the rover are working normally after waking up. After that, the rover has entered noon nap at 18:25 on March 3. It is expected to wake up at 9:00 on March 10 and sleep at 10:00 on March 13th for lunar night. During their third lunar daytime, the rover scientifically probed stones and rover track. The maximum diameter of the examined stone is about 20 cm, and the lunar rover is about 1.2 m away from the stone.

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China Aerospace Science and Technology Corp
March 4th 17:51
[Detecting stones, track! Yutu No. 2 has traveled about 127 meters in total.]
The Chang'e Lander and the rover are working normally after waking up. After that, the rover has entered noon nap at 18:25 on March 3. It is expected to wake up at 9:00 on March 10 and sleep at 10:00 on March 13th for lunar night. During their third lunar daytime, the rover scientifically probed stones and rover track. The maximum diameter of the examined stone is about 20 cm, and the lunar rover is about 1.2 m away from the stone.

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That's not too far
 
China's lunar rover studies stones on moon's far side
Source: Xinhua| 2019-03-06 18:38:41|Editor: zh

BEIJING, March 6 (Xinhua) -- China's lunar rover has conducted scientific detection on some stones on the far side of the moon, which might help scientists find out whether they are from outer space or native to the moon.

The rover Yutu-2, or Jade Rabbit-2, was sent to the Von Karman Crater in the South Pole-Aitken (SPA) Basin on the far side of the moon on Jan. 3 in the Chang'e-4 mission.

Currently, the rover has traveled about 127 meters on the moon, and is taking a "noon break" as the temperature on the moon rises extremely high. It's scheduled to resume work on March 10 and switch to its dormant mode on March 13, according to the Lunar Exploration and Space Program Center of the China National Space Administration.

Scientists said the rover has conducted scientific detection on its tracks and nearby stones. The largest stone detected has a diameter of about 20 cm, and the rover came as close as 1.2 meters to it.

Experts from the National Space Science Center (NSSC) under the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) said they want to figure out the origin of the stones, whether they are aboriginal on the moon, or meteorites from outer space. If they are aboriginal, what is the physical process of their formation?

As a result of the tidal locking effect, the moon's revolution cycle is the same as its rotation cycle, and it always faces the earth with the same side.

The far side of the moon was regarded as a virgin territory with unique features, and scientists expect important discoveries.

Ping Jinsong, a researcher with the National Astronomical Observatories under CAS, said that the rocks on the lunar surface might be sputtered body as a result of the meteorite impact.

Scientists have found evidence indicating a heavy asteroid bombardment event in the solar system around 3.9 billion years ago. And the SPA Basin might be an impact from that period. The exploration might offer clues as to why the bombardment occurred, said Zou Yongliao, director of the lunar and deep space exploration division of CAS.

The other possibility is that the stones are aboriginal, and contain geological information different from the lunar dust, said Ping.

"The rocks on the far side are more ancient. The analysis of their substance composition might help us better understand the evolution of the moon," said Zou.

In addition, the study on the tracks of the rover may reveal the information about the evolutionary history of the lunar surface over billions of years, Ping said.

The 135-kg lunar rover Jade Rabbit-2 is the first ever rover to drive on the moon's far side, as well as the lightest rover ever sent to the moon.

From the images sent back from Chang'e-4, scientists found the area surrounding the probe is dotted with craters of different sizes, and it's very difficult for the rover to drive in the region.

The rover is capable of avoiding some obstacles. If there are obstacles in front of it, it can stop and plan a new route on its own. It can also climb some slopes and cross rocky terrain, according to its designers from the China Academy of Space Technology.

The rover has sent back pictures about the stones on the far side of the moon.

Experts from NSSC said it's not easy for the rover to take the pictures since it cannot move as freely as a human. It takes a long time to move and adjust the position and angle of the rover.

Scientists hope Jade Rabbit-2 will travel farther to send more images of the unknown terrain, "listen" to the stories recorded in the ancient lunar rocks, and find more traces of the early history of the moon and the solar system.

Scientists said it's just the beginning of the scientific journey of the Jade Rabbit-2, and they expect more interesting discoveries.
 
China's lunar rover expected to work beyond design life
Source: Xinhua| 2019-03-13 21:55:23|Editor: mingmei

BEIJING, March 13 (Xinhua) -- China's lunar rover Yutu-2, or Jade Rabbit-2, has driven 163 meters on the far side of the moon and is expected to work longer than its three-month design life.

Both the rover and the lander of the Chang'e-4 lunar probe switched to a dormant mode on Wednesday as the extremely cold lunar night fell, according to the Lunar Exploration and Space Program Center of the China National Space Administration.

The Chang'e-4 probe landed on the Von Karman Crater in the South Pole-Aitken Basin on the far side of the moon on Jan. 3.

The rover has scientifically examined some stones on the far side of the moon, which might help scientists find out whether they are from outer space or native to the moon.

As a result of the tidal locking effect, the moon's revolution cycle is the same as its rotation cycle, and it always faces the earth with the same side.

The far side of the moon was regarded as a virgin territory with unique features, and scientists expect important discoveries.

The 135-kg lunar rover Jade Rabbit-2 is the first ever rover to drive on the moon's far side, as well as the lightest rover ever sent to the moon.

Scientists hope Jade Rabbit-2 will travel farther to send more images of the unknown terrain, "listen" to the stories recorded in the ancient lunar rocks and find more traces of the early history of the moon and the solar system.
 
Chang'e 4 Rover on the Move

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The Chang'e 4 rover, Yutu-2, moved between 1 February 2019 and 28 February 2019. The upper left panel (M1298916428L) shows the landing site before Chang'e 4 set down and the image in upper right panel (M1303619844L) has the best resolution of the lander and rover taken so far. The lower left image (M1303640934L) was taken six hours later with a slew angle of 40°. The most recent view in the lower right (M1305967189R) shows that Yutu-2 traversed 46 meters to the west during the month of February. All the images were first sampled to the same pixel scale (80 centimeters) then expanded by a factor of two; north is up [NASA/GSFC/Arizona State University].

LRO passes over any given place on the Moon at least once every month (in the daylight), allowing the westward progress of the Yutu-2 rover to be seen. At the end of February, Yutu-2 was 69 meters from it's home base, the Chang'e 4 lander; LROC images show Yutu-2 made 46 meters of westward progress during the month of February.

Each month when LRO images the landing site, Statio Tianhe, the lighting changes, providing a different view of the surface. During times near dawn or dusk long shadows enhance topography and closer to noon differences in surface brightness are more apparent. In the latest image from 28 February, the Sun is near the horizon and the lander and rover each cast long shadows.

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Time series of the Chang'e 4 landing site; Yutu-2 is now 69 meters from the lander (center of image) [NASA/GSFC/Arizona State University].

Over the next few months, the Sun will rise higher and higher over the landing site when LRO is overhead, providing the opportunity to obtain images with no shadows. Those images will be particularly useful for mapping differences in brightness (albedo), and we should get our first real look at the "blast zone" - the region that was brightened around the lander as rocket exhaust interacted with the regolith, as seen around all other landing sites. The tracks of the rover should also be visible in the coming months, allowing us to follow Yutu-2's exact path along the floor of Von Kármán crater during its exploration of the lunar farside.

Posted by Mark Robinson on March 20, 2019 12:43 UTC.


Chang'e 4 Rover on the Move | Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter Camera
 
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