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Jade Rabbit lunar rover alive after all, says China Jade Rabbit lunar rover alive after all, says China
(7 months later)
“It came back to life! At least it is alive and so it is possible “It came back to life! At least it is alive and so it is possible we could save it,” the official Xinhua news agency quoted Pei Zhaoyu, spokesman for the lunar programme, as saying on a verified account on Sina Weibo, a Chinese equivalent of Twitter.
we could save it,” the official Xinhua news agency quoted Pei Zhaoyu, The probe, named Yutu or Jade Rabbit after the pet of Chang’e, the goddess of the moon in Chinese mythology, had ground to a halt with a “mechanical control abnormality” last month, provoking an outpouring of sympathy from weibo users.
spokesman for the lunar programme, as saying on a verified account on
Sina Weibo, a Chinese equivalent of Twitter.
The probe, named Yutu or Jade Rabbit
after the pet of Chang’e, the goddess of the moon in Chinese mythology,
had ground to a halt with a “mechanical control abnormality” last month,
provoking an outpouring of sympathy from weibo users.
Concerns were raised that the vehicle would not survive the bitter cold of the lunar night. An unverified Weibo user “Jade Rabbit Lunar Rover”, which has posted first-person accounts in the voice of the probe, made its first update since January, when it had declared: “Goodnight, Earth. Goodnight, humans.”Concerns were raised that the vehicle would not survive the bitter cold of the lunar night. An unverified Weibo user “Jade Rabbit Lunar Rover”, which has posted first-person accounts in the voice of the probe, made its first update since January, when it had declared: “Goodnight, Earth. Goodnight, humans.”
“Hi, anybody there?” it said on Thursday, prompting thousands of comments within minutes.“Hi, anybody there?” it said on Thursday, prompting thousands of comments within minutes.
“The Jade Rabbit “The Jade Rabbit went into sleep under an abnormal status,” Pei said, according to Xinhua. “We initially worried that it might not be able to bear the extremely low temperatures during the lunar night.”
went into sleep under an abnormal status,” Pei said, according to The Jade Rabbit was deployed on the moon’s surface on 15 December, several hours after the Chang’e-3 probe carrying it landed. It was the third such soft-landing in history and the first of its kind since a Soviet Union mission nearly four decades ago. Consequently it was a huge source of pride in China.
Xinhua. “We initially worried that it might not be able to bear the China first sent an astronaut into space a decade ago and is the third country to complete a lunar rover mission after the United States and the Soviet Union.
extremely low temperatures during the lunar night.” The landing was a key step forward in Beijing’s ambitious military-run space programme, which includes plans for a permanent orbiting station by 2020 and eventually sending a human to the moon.
The Jade Rabbit was deployed on the moon’s surface on 15 December, several hours after the Chang’e-3 probe carrying it landed. It was the third such soft-landing in history and the
first of its kind since a Soviet Union mission nearly four decades
ago. Consequently it was a huge source of pride in China.
China first sent an astronaut into space a decade ago and is the
third country to complete a lunar rover mission after the United States
and the Soviet Union.
The landing was a key step forward in Beijing’s ambitious
military-run space programme, which includes plans for a permanent
orbiting station by 2020 and eventually sending a human to the moon.