CNSA - China National Space Administration logo.
March 16, 2014
China’s troubled Yutu (Jade Rabbit) rover has woken up again after its third lunar night to begin its fourth day on the Moon despite the problems with its motor driving circuit that persisted when the rover headed into sleep mode on February 23.
Sunrise at Mare Imbrium occurred around 11 UTC on March 10, but with Yutu unable to tilt one of its solar panels toward the sun, it was suspected that the rover could not wake up as early in the lunar day as it would if it was healthy. On March 13, @uhf_satcom who had received signals from Chang’e 3 & Yutu earlier reported that Yutu was transmitting a signal that appeared to be a low-rate data downlink from the rover.
@uhf_satcom also reported that China was uplinking commands to Yutu as the uplink signal was reflected from the Moon and detected by their tracking station. Later on Thursday, it was reported that the rover had responded to commands & showed a strong downlink signal similar to those seen before the last lunar night.
Yutu (Jade Rabbit) rover on the Moon surface
Official Chinese news outlets have not reported of Yutu’s awakening yet, but the reception of the rover’s signal confirms that the Jade Rabbit is still alive & officially exceeding its expected life time on the lunar surface. The rover was designed to survive for three lunar days, but teams hoped it would be able to continue operating longer than that. Still, if the problems related to the rover’s motor-driving system can not be solved, Yutu will remain stationary for the rest of its life - however long that may be.
The problem emerged back on January 25 when Yutu was about to enter sleep mode for the mission’s second lunar night and left the rover in a bad thermal configuration with its mast and both solar panels extended.
Mission controllers were ready to pronounce the rover dead as it was not expected that Yutu would survive the cold temperatures of the lunar night without folding up its mast and shielding it & the rover body with one of the solar panels. On February 12, Yutu woke up and was still operational, but the problem with its control circuitry persisted throughout the third lunar day and troubleshooting efforts were not successful. It remains to be seen whether the rover will be able to drive again and how long it can endure the harsh environment on the lunar surface.
For more information about China National Space Administration (CNSA), visit: http://www.cnsa.gov.cn/n615709/cindex.html
Images, Text, Credits: Spaceflight101./China Academy of Sciences/Xinhua.
Greetings, Orbiter.ch
