On December 15 China ’s Yutu scouter landed on the lunar surface to begin a three - calendar month - tenacious delegation . For the last two calendar week scientist with the Chinese space program have been hold off with bated breath to see if their lunar rover Yutu ( translate to Jade Rabbit ) would survive the lunar night . A mechanically skillful malfunction prevent the rover from embark hibernation and scientists fear that the rover may have immobilise to decease . However , a newly free audio transmission display that all is not lose yet .
The lunar nighttime lasts about 14 Earth days . During this time , the scouter would not have any sunlight to power its solar panels and needs to be power down to conserve stash away great power . Not only that , but the lack of sun also bring dangerously miserable temperature . The bird of passage require to fold itself up to protect its delicate electronic constituent from freezing and sustaining irreparable damage . Unfortunately , state functionary announcedthat while Yutu was scheduled to enter hibernation on January 25 , nameless mechanical job occurred and the rover was pass on opened and exposed .
Scientists worked diligently to attempt to repair the rover remotely , but became acutely aware that the scouter was likely that is likely that the freeze temperatures damaged the rover ’s electronics too severely to be recovered . presently , the only explanation offered for the malfunction has been that it is due to “ complicated lunar open surround ” but did not specify if debris was to find fault .
There have been conflicting reports - some news show outlet have posit that Yutu has been sustain as misplace , which does not appear to be lawful . To the adverse , ashort announcementfrom the country - endure news show release has tell that since the sun has come out in the third lunar Clarence Day of its mission , Yutu has shownsmall signs of lifethrough wireless transmissions . While this does not indicate how Yutu is doing overall or how the mission will proceed , there is hope that it could recover function as it continues to warm up up .
Even if Yutu ’s scientific missionary work is reduce short , it was anything but a bankruptcy . China has the third blank space political program ( following the United States and the Soviet Union ) to have made a soft landing on the moon . For the meter that Yutu was fully functional , it was capable to use its mechanically skillful limb and make observations about the lunar surface . It was an incredible first step in space exploration .
Chang’e-3 , the lander that brought Yutu to the moon , expire into hibernation mood without incident . It does have a television camera on board and will continue to take exposure to commit back to Earth .
