Moon Exploration and Science News

February 17, 2014

What's up, Yutu
Sydney, Australia (SPX) Feb 17, 2014
It's been a few days since China said that the embattled Yutu Moon rover had sent a transmission back to Earth. Yutu suffered a mechanical anomaly roughly four weeks ago, shortly before it entered a frigid two-week lunar night. The anomaly, believed to involve a faulty solar panel mechanism, threatened to cause Yutu to freeze to death in the darkness. Yutu was apparently silent after daybreak, but apparently transmitted something after roughly three days. Since then, there has been a lack o ... read more

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LADEE Sends Its First Images of the Moon Back to Earth Earlier this month, NASA's Lunar Atmosphere and Dust Environment Explorer (LADEE) observatory successfully downlinked images of the moon and stars taken by onboard camera systems, known as star trac ... more		Chang'e-2 lunar probe travels 70 mln km China's second lunar probe, Chang'e-2, has traveled more than 70 million km into deep space in good condition, so far the longest voyage of a Chinese spacecraft, a senior engineer said Friday. ... more		A global map of Jupiter's biggest moon Scientists, including Brown University geologists and students, have completed the first global geological map of Ganymede, Jupiter's largest moon and the largest in the solar system. With i ... more
				Yutu Awakes After a considerable delay and some highly vague statements, China has indicated that the Yutu Moon rover is transmitting telemetry to Earth. This is a highly encouraging development, as it suggests ... more		Source of 'Moon Curse' Revealed by Eclipse Strange events have long been linked to nights of a full moon, though careful scrutiny dispels any association. So, when signals bounced off the lunar surface returned surprisingly faint echoes on f ... more

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	New results on the geologic characteristics of the Chang'e-3 exploration region An article entitled "Geologic characteristics of the Chang'E-3 exploration region"was published online for SCIENCE CHINA Physics, Mechanics and Astronomy on January 21, 2014. It presents some new re ... more		Netizens extend blessings to troubled lunar rover Tens of thousands of Chinese netizens have sent their blessings to lunar rover Yutu (Jade Rabbit) after it experienced major trouble. A mechanical control abnormality occurred to Yutu because of the ... more		China's moon rover experiences abnormality China's moon rover, Yutu (Jade Rabbit), has experienced a mechanical control abnormality, and scientists are organizing repairs. The abnormality occurred due to "complicated lunar surface envi ... more		Yutu moon rover has 'abnormality': Xinhua China's Jade Rabbit moon rover has experienced a "mechanical control abnormality", state media said Saturday, in what appears to be a setback for a landmark mission in the country's ambitious space programme. ... more

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