The mechanical controls of China’s Jade Rabbit lunar rover got fried, and the poor little thing probably froze to death during the Moon’s cold night. Think your “Polar Vortex” is cold? Overnight lows on the Moon can go down to -180C (-292F).
The Jade Rabbit (Yutu in Chinese) is named for the mythical pet bunny companion of the Moon GoddessChang’e, for whom the mission’s lunar lander is named. During its final momentsYutu bade a touching if long-winded farewell, reported by the Xinhua news service. Excerpts:
China has landed a lunar probe on the Moon, the first lunar soft landing since 1976. The Chang’e-3 lunar probe’s robot rover is called the Jade Rabbit, and it will explore the Bay of Rainbows. In Chinese myth, Chang’e is the Moon Goddess, and the Jade Rabbit (Yu Tu) is her pet. The China National Space Administration plans to land non-mythical personalities on the Moon by 2020 and set up a moon base in 2030.
The China National Space Administration successfully launched a rocket to the Moon yesterday. The Long March-3B rocket blasted off from Xichang Satellite Launch Center in Sichuan province carrying the Chang’e-3 lunar probe and its lunar rover for unmanned exploration of the Moon’s surface. It also carries a heavy symbolic load, explains Elizabeth Barber:
“This morning’s mission has, like most Chinese missions to space, been heavily tapestried in tropes that stitch together the patriotic and the mythical. The lander and its rover are named after a Chinese myth in which a woman, Chang’e, swallows magic pills that transport her and her pet rabbit, ‘Yu Tu’ (Jade Rabbit), to the moon. There she remains, white rabbit at her side, as goddess of the moon. Xinhua [news service] called the mission ‘a modern scientific version’ of the myth.”
— “In one big step for China, ‘Jade Rabbit’ heads to the moon,” Elizabeth Barber, Christian Science Monitor
And where will the new Jade Rabbit roam? The Bay of Rainbows, naturally.
Update:
“China’s Maiden Moon Rover Mission Chang’e 3 Achieves Lunar Orbit,” Ken Kreme, Universe Today
Despite winning a phenomenal total of two entire state primaries, disgraced former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich has suspended his campaign for the Republican presidential nomination. No word if he will resume his quest to become lunar colony governor.
