Yutu – the first Chinese lunar rover By its first landing on the moon this Saturday China wants to open a separate chapter in the exploration of the moon. After a two-week trip, the spaceship “Chang’e 3″ is just after 14:00 clock (Central European Time invoice, CET) end up in the “Bay of the rainbow” of the Mare Imbrium, one of the most impressive country sheep of the moon. If everything goes according to plan, China is now, after the United States and the former Soviet Union the third nation that has made a lunar landing. Last time was 1976, the Soviet probe “Luna 24″ landed on the moon.
After the last state on Friday, the spacecraft is at 21.00 clock Beijing local time (ie at 14.00 clock CET) start with the twelve-minute descent. “Chang’e 3″ flew last in an elliptical orbit around the moon, which is the surface approached up to 15 kilometers. The spacecraft can hover about 100 feet above the surface to avoid obstacles and to be able to choose the suitable place to land.
The rolling Jadehase
a six-wheeled rover, Yutu baptized three months to explore the lunar surface is on board the probe. The 140-pound vehicle can roll a speed of up to 200 meters per hour over the moon
and cope with gradients of up to 30 percent. It is equipped with a radioisotope heater that will provide a comfortable operating temperature. Yutu has various tools with which to examine about the lunar surface and the chemical composition of the rock can be analyzed. On board are also cameras and a telescope for astronomical observations.
The exact schedule is subject to strict confidentiality. Presumably, the rover will leave the spacecraft on the same day. In the course of Sunday then first photos might be available, may also show the rover and the spacecraft landed.
The spacecraft is named after the Chinese Lunar Fairy “Chang’e” squatting according to legend, a white hare on the moon. In a spectacular online survey three million Chinese had called the Lunar Rover accordingly “Jadehase” (Yutu).
China’s ambitious lunar plans
The moon landing is considered by experts as the most difficult unmanned projects of the ambitious Chinese space program. Two probes had already explored the Moon from orbit. Until the end of the decade to follow, during which they even want to bring soil samples from the moon more missions. More than 80 percent of the technologies that are essential for further lunar missions are tested with “Chang’e 3″ and Yutu for the first time.
“China is increasing its activities in the exclusive club of space travelers nations,” said aerospace expert Joan Johnson-Freese of the U.S. Naval War College. “It’s after the United States and Russia only the third nation to pursue a manned space program – and now only the third nation that tried to land on the moon.” European Space Agency (Esa) supports communication with “Chang’e 3 “through its ground station in Kourou, French Guiana. Also precise location measurement of the Esa-checkpoints in the Spanish Cebreros and Australian New Norcia be delivered. Esa Control Esoc in Darmstadt coordinates all activities. China’s space program itself controls the landing and the moon vehicle on its stations in Kashi in the outer western China and in the northeastern Jiamusi.
China is pursuing an ambitious space program. It plans by 2020 to build a space station that may be the only manned outpost in space with the expiry of the International Space Station. With a suitable satellite network China also builds a global navigation system. In 2003, China had first brought also an astronaut into space.
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