The 140-kilogram Yutu-2 (Jade Rabbit-2) moon rover is awake again!
In January 2019, the Chinese Chang’e-4 lander made the first-ever soft-landing on the far side of the moon. It released the Yutu-2 rover, and the pair have been operating on the lunar far side for 175 Earth days.
A night on the moon is about 14.5 Earth days. So when the rover goes to sleep for the evening, it is really sleeping for half a month. On June 9, 2019, both craft settled in for their long nap.
Since it would be dark, they folded their solar arrays and used radioisotope heaters to stay warm in the minus 190 Celsius (minus 310 Fahrenheit) darkness.
Now the sun is up for the next 14.5 Earth days, and Yutu-2 is ready to roam again. Scientists hope the little rover can operate for at least one Earth year.
More info: https://spacenews.com/change-4-begins-lunar-day-7-after-yutu-2-rover-overcomes-cosmic-challenges/
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| Route plotted by Philip Stooke of the Centre for Planetary Science and Exploration at the University of Western Ontario, Canada |
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