Yutu-2 Explained

Yutu-2
Mission Type:lunar rover
Operator:CNSA
Mission Duration:3 months (planned)[1]
Current:
Launch Mass:Rover: 140 kg[2]
Landing Mass:140 kg
Dimensions:1.5 × 1.0 × 1.0 m[3]
Launch Date:7 December 2018, 18:23 UTC[4]
Launch Rocket:Long March 3B[5]
Launch Site:Xichang Satellite Launch Center
Interplanetary:
Type:rover
Arrival Date:3 January 2019, 02:26 UTC[6]
Distance:
[7]
Programme:Chinese Lunar Exploration Program rovers
Previous Mission:Yutu
Next Mission:Yidong Xiangji

Yutu-2 is the robotic lunar rover component of CNSA's Chang'e 4 mission to the Moon, launched on 7 December 2018 18:23 UTC, it entered lunar orbit on 12 December 2018 before making the first soft landing on the far side of the Moon on 3 January 2019. Yutu-2 is currently operational as the longest-lived lunar rover[8] after it eclipsed (on 20 November 2019) the previous lunar longevity record of 321 Earth days held by Soviet Union's Lunokhod 1 rover. Yutu-2 is the first lunar rover ever to have traversed the far side of the Moon. By January 2022, it had travelled a distance of more than along the Moon's surface.[9] [10] Data from its ground penetrating radar (GPR) has been used by scientists to put together imagery of multiple layers deep beneath the surface of the far side of the Moon.

Overview

The total landing mass is 1200kg (2,600lb). Both the stationary lander and Yutu-2 rover (literally: "Jade Rabbit") are equipped with a radioisotope heater unit (RHU) to maintain their subsystems during the long lunar nights,[11] while electrical power is generated by solar panels.

After landing, the lander extended a ramp to deploy the Yutu-2 rover to the lunar surface.[12] The rover measures 1.5 × 1.0 × 1.0 m (4.9 × 3.3 × 3.3 ft) with a mass of 140kg (310lb), and is propelled by six wheels. Yutu-2 was manufactured in Dongguan, Guangdong province. The rover is an improvement of the first Yutu rover from 2013; while its nominal operating time is three months, Chinese mission engineers hope it will operate for "a few years."[13]

The landing craft touched down at 02:26 UTC on 3 January 2019, becoming the first spacecraft to land on the far side of the Moon, and the rover deployed about 12 hours later.

Science payloads

Cost

According to Wu Yanhua, the deputy director of the project, the cost of the entire mission was "close to building one kilometer of subway", which can vary from 500 million yuan (about 72.6 million U.S. dollars) to 1.2 billion yuan (about 172.4 million dollars).[16]

Landing site

The landing site is within the Von Kármán crater[17] (180abbr=onNaNabbr=on diameter) in the South Pole-Aitken Basin on the far side of the Moon, which was previously unexplored by landers.[18] [19] The site has symbolic as well as scientific value: Theodore von Kármán was the PhD advisor of Qian Xuesen, the founder of the Chinese space program.[20]

Operations and results

A day after landing, Yutu-2 went into hibernation for its first lunar night and it resumed activities on 10 January 2019, with all instruments operating nominally. During its first full lunar day, the rover travelled, and on 11 February 2019 it powered down for its second lunar night.[21] [22] In May 2019, it was reported that Chang'e 4 has identified what appear to be mantle rocks on the surface, its primary objective.[23] [24] [25]

In November 2019, Yutu 2 broke the lunar longevity record previously held by the Soviet Union's Lunokhod 1 rover which operated on the lunar surface for eleven lunar days (321 Earth days).[26]

In February 2020, Chinese astronomers reported, for the first time, a high-resolution image of a lunar ejecta sequence, and, as well, direct analysis of its internal architecture. These were based on observations made by the rover's Lunar Penetrating Radar (LPR).[27] [28]

Data from its two-channel ground penetrating radar (GPR) has constructed an image of multiple layers beneath the surface to a depth of 300 meters.[29]

Gel-like Substance

In September 2019, the Yutu-2 rover found a mysterious, unusual "gel-like" substance on the lunar surface inside a small crater in the central region of the Von Kármán crater on the south pole of the far side of the moon.[30] Further analysis found that the substance resembled rock melted by a lunar impact. Thus, the research indicates that the bright, green material is, in fact, rock that was melted by the heat generated by a meteorite impact on the Moon. [31]

Mystery Hut

In December 2021, the rover pictured what appeared to be a particularly prominent boulder, dubbed the "Mystery Hut" (神秘小屋), or "Moon Cube",[32] [33] which it was intended to explore in the following lunar days (earth months).[34] [35] On 7 January 2022, news reported that the rover reached the "Mystery Hut" after traveling for a month, and found it to be "irregularly shaped rock";[36] resembling a rabbit, with a smaller nearby rock like a carrot, making a fitting discovery for the Yutu (Jade Rabbit).[37]

See also

External links

Notes and References

  1. https://www.businessinsider.com/china-moon-robot-launch-date-change-4-2018-8 China says it will launch 2 robots to the far side of the moon in December on an unprecedented lunar exploration mission
  2. http://space.skyrocket.de/doc_sdat/change-3.htm Chang'e 3, 4 (CE 3, 4)
  3. https://www.cnn.com/2018/08/16/asia/china-lunar-rover-intl/ This is the rover China will send to the 'dark side' of the Moon
  4. Web site: CNSA . zh-CN . . 8 December 2018 . https://web.archive.org/web/20181210092044/http://www.cnsa.gov.cn/n6758823/n6758838/c6804676/content.html . 10 December 2018 . dead .
  5. https://spaceflightnow.com/launch-schedule/ Launch Schedule 2018
  6. News: Barbosa . Rui . China lands Chang'e-4 mission on the far side of the Moon . Nasaspacefight . 3 January 2019 . 3 January 2019 . https://web.archive.org/web/20190103063401/https://www.nasaspaceflight.com/2019/01/china-returning-moon-change-4-mission/ . 3 January 2019 . live .
  7. Web site: 中国探月工程立项20年 回顾"嫦娥"奔月之旅 . 2024-05-04. 央视新闻 . zh-hans . 2024-05-05.
  8. Web site: China's Farside Moon Rover Breaks Lunar Longevity Record. Leonard. David. Space.com. 18 December 2019.
  9. Web site: Moon 'mystery hut' is just a rabbit-shaped rock, Chinese rover finds. 11 January 2022. Space.com. 12 January 2022.
  10. Web site: China's lunar rover Yutu 2 is on a mission to investigate mystery object on far side of the moon. 2021-12-05.
  11. https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/stamp/stamp.jsp?arnumber=8544971 China Shoots for the Moon's Far Side
  12. News: Xu . Luyuan . How China's lunar relay satellite arrived in its final orbit . The Planetary Society . 15 June 2018 . https://web.archive.org/web/20181017123833/http://www.planetary.org/blogs/guest-blogs/2018/20180615-queqiao-orbit-explainer.html . 17 October 2018.
  13. https://www.scmp.com/news/china/science/article/2180108/chinas-change-4-spacecraft-attempt-historic-landing-dark-side China's Chang'e 4 spacecraft to try historic landing on far side of Moon 'between January 1 and 3'
  14. http://epizodyspace.ru/bibl/inostr-yazyki/planetary-and-space-science/2018/Jia_et_al_The_Chang-E-4_Mission_Planetary_and_Space_Science_in_press_(2017).pdf The scientific objectives and payloads of Chang'E−4 mission
  15. Web site: Sweden joins China's historic mission to land on the far side of the Moon in 2018 . Andrew Jones . GBTimes . 16 May 2016 . 12 January 2018 . 6 October 2018 . https://web.archive.org/web/20181006114659/https://gbtimes.com/sweden-joins-chinas-historic-mission-land-far-side-moon?feature=chinas-change-4-mission-to-the-far-side-of-the-moon . dead .
  16. http://www.ecns.cn/m/news/sci-tech/2019-07-31/detail-ifzmnmiq8702425.shtml China's latest Moon mission costs about as much as building 1 km of subway – Headlines, features, photo and videos from ecns.cn|china|news|chinanews|ecns|cns
  17. https://www.airspacemag.com/daily-planet/chinas-journey-lunar-far-side-missed-opportunity-180963703/ China's Journey to the Lunar Far Side: A Missed Opportunity?
  18. 10.1007/s11431-016-9034-6 . An overview of the mission and technical characteristics of Change'4 Lunar Probe . Science China Technological Sciences . 60 . 5 . 658 . 2017 . Ye . Peijian . Sun . Zezhou . Zhang . He . Li . Fei. 2017ScChE..60..658Y . 126303995 .
  19. News: China Plans First Ever Landing on the Lunar Far Side . 22 May 2015 . Space Daily . 26 May 2015 . https://web.archive.org/web/20150526115025/http://www.spacedaily.com/reports/China_Plans_First_Ever_Landing_on_the_Dark_Side_of_the_Moon_999.html . 26 May 2015 . live .
  20. Web site: Hsue-Shen Tsien . Mathematics Genealogy Project . 7 December 2018 . https://web.archive.org/web/20181209124216/https://www.genealogy.math.ndsu.nodak.edu/id.php?id=114672 . 9 December 2018 . live.
  21. Web site: Jones . Andrew . Chang'e-4 powers down for second lunar night . . 11 February 2019 . 1 August 2019.
  22. Web site: Caraiman . Vadim Ioan . Chinese Lunar Probe, Chang'e-4, Goes Standby Mode For The Second Lunar Night on The Dark Side of The Moon . Great Lakes Ledger . 11 February 2019 . 1 August 2019.
  23. Ouyang. Ziyuan. Zhang. Hongbo. Su. Yan. Wen. Weibin. Shu. Rong. Chen. Wangli. Zhang. Xiaoxia. Tan. Xu. Xu. Rui. May 2019. Chang'E-4 initial spectroscopic identification of lunar far-side mantle-derived materials. Nature. 569. 7756. 378–382. 10.1038/s41586-019-1189-0. 31092939. 1476-4687. 2019Natur.569..378L. 205571018.
  24. Web site: Strickland . Ashley . Chinese mission uncovers secrets on the far side of the moon . . 2019-05-15 . 2019-05-16.
  25. Web site: Rincon . Paul . Chang'e-4: Chinese rover 'confirms' Moon crater theory . . 15 May 2019 . 1 August 2019.
  26. Howell, Elizabeth (December 19, 2016). "Lunokhod 1: 1st Successful Lunar Rover", Space.com. Retrieved May 31, 2018.
  27. News: Chang . Kenneth . China's Rover Finds Layers of Surprise Under Moon's Far Side – The Chang'e-4 mission, the first to land on the lunar far side, is demonstrating the promise and peril of using ground-penetrating radar in planetary science. . 26 February 2020 . . 27 February 2020 .
  28. Li, Chunlai . et al. . The Moon's farside shallow subsurface structure unveiled by Chang'E-4 Lunar Penetrating Radar . 26 February 2020 . . 6 . 9 . eaay6898 . 10.1126/sciadv.aay6898 . 32133404 . 7043921 . 2020SciA....6.6898L . free .
  29. Web site: China's Yutu 2 rover reveals deep layers below far side of the moon. . 2023-08-24.
  30. Web site: Andrew Jones. China's Lunar Rover Just Found Something Weird on the Far Side of the Moon. 2019-09-03. 2021-12-08. livescience.com. en.
  31. News: Rabie . Passant . Scientists finally figured out what that gel-like stuff is on the Moon. 2020-07-11 . Inverse . 2024-07-12 .
  32. News: Shannon Stirone. Moon Cube and Mysteries of the Solar System . 8 December 2021 . . 27 December 2021 .
  33. News: Kelvey . Jon . Look: Chinese Rover Spots a "Moon Cube," and Opens a New Lunar Mystery - While almost certainly a boulder or two, the enigmatic Moon Cube is nevertheless fascinating, and could help scientist understand how to live on the Moon. . 8 December 2021 . . 27 December 2021 .
  34. News: Jones . Andrew . China's Yutu 2 rover spots cube-shaped 'mystery hut' on far side of the moon. . 5 December 2021 . . 6 December 2021.
  35. News: Kooser . Amanda . China moon rover will investigate cube-shaped 'mystery' object on lunar far side - Is that a boulder? Or something else? . 5 December 2021 . . 6 December 2021 .
  36. News: Dvorsky . George . 'Mysterious Hut' Spotted on Far Side of the Moon Is a Huge Disappointment - It took China's Yutu 2 rover a full month to reach its underwhelming destination. . 7 January 2022 . Gizmodo. 7 January 2022 .
  37. News: Chang . Kenneth . Moon Cube Mystery: Chinese Rover Finds It's Just a Rock - A blurry image thatJChina's space program had called the "mystery hut" was a result of camera angle, light and shadow. . 7 January 2022 . . 7 January 2022 .

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