[meteorite-list] China Ready to Land Rover on Moon

[Ron Baalke]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-25356603

China ready to land robot rover on Moon
By Paul Rincon 
BBC News
December 13, 2013
 
China is set to land a robotic rover on the surface of the Moon, a major 
step in the Asian superpower's ambitious programme of space exploration.

On Saturday afternoon (GMT), a landing module will undergo a powered descent, 
using thrusters to perform the first soft landing on the Moon in 37 years.

Several hours later, the lander will deploy a robotic rover called Yutu, 
which translates as "Jade Rabbit".

The touchdown will take place on a flat plain called the Bay of Rainbows.

The Chang'e-3 mission launched on a Chinese-developed Long March 3B rocket 
on 1 December from Xichang in the country's south.

"On the evening of December 14, Chang'e-3 will carry out a soft landing 
on the lunar surface," said a post on the mission's official blog on Sina 
Weibo, the Chinese version of Twitter.

The task was described as the mission's "most difficult" in the post, 
written by the Chinese Academy of Sciences on behalf of the space authorities.

It is the third robotic rover mission to land on the lunar surface, but 
the Chinese vehicle carries a more sophisticated payload, including ground-penetrating 
radar which will gather measurements of the lunar soil and crust.

The 120kg (260lb) Jade Rabbit rover can reportedly climb slopes of up 
to 30 degrees and travel at 200m (660ft) per hour.

Its name - chosen in an online poll of 3.4 million voters - derives from 
an ancient Chinese myth about a rabbit living on the moon as the pet of 
the lunar goddess Chang'e.

According to translated documents, the landing module will begin actively 
reducing its speed at about 15km from the Moon's surface.

When it reaches a distance of 100m from the surface, the craft will fire 
thrusters to slow its descent.

At a distance of 4m, the lander switches off the thrusters and free-falls 
to the lunar surface.

The Jade Rabbit is expected to be deployed on Saturday evening, driving 
down a ramp lowered by the Chang'e-3 landing module.

Reports suggest the lander and rover will photograph each other at some 
point on Sunday.

According to Chinese space scientists, the mission is designed to test 
new technologies, gather scientific data and build intellectual expertise.

Dean Cheng, a senior research fellow at the Heritage Foundation, a conservative 
think-tank in Washington DC, said the mission would provide an opportunity 
to test China's deep-space tracking and  communications capability.

"The rover will reportedly be under Earth control at various points of 
its manoeuvres on the lunar surface," Mr Cheng wrote in a blog post.

"Such a space observation and tracking system has implications not only 
for space exploration but for national security, as it can be used to 
maintain space surveillance, keeping watch over Chinese and other nations' 
space assets."

China has been methodically and patiently building up the key elements 
needed for an advanced space programme - from launchers to manned missions 
in Earth orbit to unmanned planetary craft - and it is investing heavily.

The country considers its space programme a symbol of its rising global 
stature and technological advancement, as well as of the Communist Party's 
success in reversing the fortunes of the once impoverished nation.

After Chang'e-3, a mission to bring samples of lunar soil back to Earth 
is planned for 2017. And this may set the stage for further robotic missions, 
and - perhaps - a crewed lunar mission in the 2020s.