[meteorite-list] Chinese Moon Lander and Rover Wake Up After Weeks of Sleep

From: Ron Baalke <baalke_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Mon, 13 Jan 2014 14:58:14 -0800 (PST)
Message-ID: <201401132258.s0DMwEr3000904_at_zagami.jpl.nasa.gov>

http://www.nbcnews.com/science/chinese-moon-lander-rover-wake-after-weeks-sleep-2D11909188

Chinese moon lander and rover wake up after weeks of sleep
Alan Boyle
NBC News
January 12, 2014

The Xinhua news agency said the six-wheeled Yutu rover - which was named
after a "Jade Rabbit" in Chinese mythology - was the first to wake up,
on Saturday. The Chang'e 3 lander, named after the moon goddess who kept
Yutu by her side, followed on Sunday.

Both spacecraft draw most of their power from solar arrays, which means
they must conserve power when their landing site in the Bay of Rainbows,
or Sinus Iridum, goes into darkness. They're equipped with plutonium-powered
backup batteries to keep the electronics warm amid overnight temperatures
that go as low as 292 degrees below zero Fahrenheit (-180 degrees Celsius).

"During the lunar night, the lander and the rover were in a power-off
condition, and the communication with Earth was also cut off," Zhou Jianliang,
chief engineer of the Beijing Aerospace Control Center, said in a report
from Xinhua.

Chang'e 3 landed on Dec. 14 and rolled out a ramp to deliver Yutu to the
surface for an initial round of reconnoitering - and then both spacecraft
went into hibernation on Dec. 25-26. From now on, the spacecraft are expected
to split their time into roughly two-week rounds of waking and sleeping.

Chang'e 3 is the first mission to operate on the surface of the moon since
1976, when the Soviets' Luna 24 robotic spacecraft gathered up samples
of moon dirt and sent them back to Earth. The rover is due to operate
for at least three months - collecting and analyzing lunar samples, and
mapping the subsurface with ground-penetrating radar. The lander is built
to make astronomical observations for at least a year, drawing upon optical
telescope gear and an extreme ultraviolet camera.

Both spacecraft are equipped with cameras and sent an initial round of
snapshots back to Earth before their hibernation.

China is already making plans for a 2017 mission that would bring samples
back from the moon.
Received on Mon 13 Jan 2014 05:58:14 PM PST