Printable Version of Topic

Click here to view this topic in its original format

Unmanned Spaceflight.com _ Chang'e program _ Chang'e 3: Lunar Day 3 and onwards

Posted by: Hungry4info Feb 11 2014, 10:10 AM

The China Space facebook page reports the lander has awaken (https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=674619515932386&set=a.399411066786567.91711.237730352954640&type=1&relevant_count=1).
I haven't heard anything about the rover.

 

Posted by: marsbug Feb 11 2014, 02:07 PM

I've no news I'm afraid, but I do have a question: The lander itself has instruments for UV astronomy and plasmasphere investigations. If Yutu has gone to the land of eternal crunchy lettuce, how long will the lander mission continue to run without the rover?

Posted by: Phil Stooke Feb 11 2014, 02:51 PM

The lander was intended to last for a year. It doesn't need the rover - and the rover doesn't need the lander, it could be completely independent as they hoped it could travel several km away from the lander.

Phil


Posted by: marsbug Feb 11 2014, 03:13 PM

Thanks Phil. It's good to know the lander is designed to run for a year. I was as much wondering if the Chinese space agency would consider the lander investigations worth the effort and money of running on their own, or if they were just a sideshow to the rover that would be kept going as part of the overall budget of rover/lander mission, but not as just a lander. Paranoia, perhaps, but sometimes these things are politically influenced and the reasons why experiments are turned off aren't always clear.

I'm going to have to uncross some things for Yutu, I'm starting to ache...…..

[MOD NOTE: Let's be careful about rule 1.2 here.]

Posted by: A.Nemo Feb 12 2014, 01:42 AM

QUOTE (marsbug @ Feb 11 2014, 10:07 PM) *
I've no news I'm afraid, but I do have a question: The lander itself has instruments for UV astronomy and plasmasphere investigations. If Yutu has gone to the land of eternal crunchy lettuce, how long will the lander mission continue to run without the rover?


CE-3 Lander will run one year , while china engineers had thought extended to two year

Posted by: Phil Stooke Feb 12 2014, 02:14 AM

http://news.sohu.com/20140211/n394783771.shtml

The little video on this site doesn't tell me much but it does include some glimpses of images we have not seen before - rocks near the lander with a lower sun angle.

I have also seen a statement that there will be a news release tomorrow.

Phil

Posted by: Hungry4info Feb 12 2014, 10:59 AM

http://www.ecns.cn/2014/02-12/100479.shtml

QUOTE
China's first lunar rover, Yutu, could not be restored to full function on Monday as expected

Posted by: marsbug Feb 12 2014, 12:29 PM

Mods: Understood.
Rest well little rabbit, may your memory be honoured by many successors.

Posted by: Cosmic Penguin Feb 12 2014, 01:24 PM

QUOTE (Hungry4info @ Feb 12 2014, 06:59 PM) *
http://www.ecns.cn/2014/02-12/100479.shtml


Doesn't sounds like a convincing source. I think that unless Xinhua News et al. release something, we probably can't be sure that it's gone. And all the official sources are still silent (even for the lander!)....... huh.gif

Posted by: Cosmic Penguin Feb 12 2014, 01:35 PM

QUOTE (Cosmic Penguin @ Feb 12 2014, 09:24 PM) *
Doesn't sounds like a convincing source. I think that unless Xinhua News et al. release something, we probably can't be sure that it's gone. And all the official sources are still silent (even for the lander!)....... huh.gif


And just after I wrote that there's http://news.sina.com.cn/c/2014-02-12/212229448547.shtml claiming that the rover is showing "signs of activity" - with Xinhua News shown as the source! So maybe it's not dead? rolleyes.gif (remember that we don't even know what happened to it!)

Posted by: Yeh Feb 12 2014, 01:49 PM

From Xinhua this morning: "Bunny seems getting better, there is evidence that he is awake, we will see." But no further details are disclosed.

http://news.sina.com.cn/c/2014-02-12/212229448547.shtml?wbf=more (in Chinese)

Posted by: A.Nemo Feb 12 2014, 01:54 PM

Official Xinhuanet have gave us some good news:
http://t.qq.com/p/t/385354002655232
http://t.qq.com/p/t/362386008552526
一位正在抢救小兔子的嫦娥三号任务核心人员刚才用嘶哑的声音、兴奋的语调告诉记者:“小兔子情况趋好,有点再醒的迹象,再等等。”这是自上月25日玉兔进入月夜以来记者第一次听到积极消息。小兔子,加油!师傅们,你们辛苦了!记者余晓洁

turns well, a signs of Yutu‘s activity,Yutu begin awake?
It's first good news last from January 25,Please wait for a while

Posted by: ustrax Feb 12 2014, 05:21 PM

"Official news: Yutu is still alive! Mission control is busy working on it. Please give more time." smile.gif
https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=675336755860662&set=a.642236465837358.1073741887.237730352954640&type=1&theater

Posted by: Yeh Feb 12 2014, 05:33 PM

From my understanding of CNSA's habit, this (a very brief Xinhua news; CNSA remains silent) may mean that they got another 14 days trying to deal with the mechanical breakdown.

If they have fixed it, I don't see a reason for them to hold the news...

But anyway, the reconnection is good and encouraging. At least there are chances to solve the problem.

Posted by: marsbug Feb 12 2014, 06:13 PM

Hurrah! Let us hope Yutu has made it through the night without too much damage. Good luck to the mission control team.

Posted by: mcaplinger Feb 12 2014, 08:30 PM

Maybe all those ham radio operators who are complaining about the ISEE-3 situation should try listening for downlink from Yutu instead. rolleyes.gif

Posted by: Paolo Feb 12 2014, 08:50 PM

signal from Yutu!
http://pjm.uhf-satcom.com/twtr/yutu_8462077.jpg

Posted by: Thorsten Denk Feb 12 2014, 09:05 PM

Great! biggrin.gif

One question, for people (like me) who are not experts
for electronics hardware at low temperatures:
What is the problem with the low temperatures?
What exactly happens, how is the electronics knocked out?
Thanks for the answers.

Thorsten

Posted by: mcaplinger Feb 12 2014, 09:12 PM

QUOTE (Thorsten Denk @ Feb 12 2014, 02:05 PM) *
What is the problem with the low temperatures?

Thermal expansion/contraction can break solder joints, internal bond wires, etc.
Some components (e.g., electrolytic capacitors, batteries) have goop that can freeze.

In general it's not that hard to build something that can survive Mars surface temps, but it gets colder and hotter on the Moon, so more stress.

Posted by: djellison Feb 12 2014, 10:47 PM

QUOTE (mcaplinger @ Feb 12 2014, 12:30 PM) *
Maybe all those ham radio operators who are complaining about the ISEE-3 situation should try listening for downlink from Yutu instead. rolleyes.gif


They did. With success :-O

Yup - I was surprised as well.

https://twitter.com/uhf_satcom/status/433709448717033472

Posted by: mcaplinger Feb 12 2014, 10:53 PM

QUOTE (djellison @ Feb 12 2014, 03:47 PM) *
They did. With success :-O

Detecting a signal is a good deal easier than decoding it, much less generating an uplink, of course.

Posted by: Yeh Feb 13 2014, 12:17 AM

CNSA confirmation:

http://www.weibo.com/1488228740/Awubn3MXf

官方消息:探月工程新闻发言人裴照宇昨晚表示,国产“玉兔号”月球车已全面苏醒,状态趋于好转,但是出现问题的“机构”仍然有待进一步恢复。只有苏醒了才有排故的时间,希望得到很好的救治和疗养,兔子好好休个假。

CLEP news officer Pei Zhaoyu said the Yutu rover is fully awaken and is getting better, but the mechanical problems are yet to be solved.

UPDATE: CAS official microblogger says the same thing: http://www.weibo.com/3494982177/AwufW7cDi . There is an updated news brief from Xinhua there, but says nothing relevant to the exact problem.

Posted by: Hungry4info Feb 13 2014, 03:32 AM

From Xinhua.
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/sci/2014-02/13/c_133111548.htm
"The rover stands a chance of being saved now that it is still alive,"

Posted by: elakdawalla Feb 13 2014, 04:42 AM

This came to the Lunar Listserv from Yong-Chun Zheng:

QUOTE
Yesterday night, the Jade Rabbit lunar rover have sent us a good message from the Moon. In the last lunar day for the landing site, the rover met trouble to move on the surface. The control structure of the rover can't function as designed. The rabbit has gone into sleep without protection. Fortunately, our rabbit awakes yesterday with the efforts of the engineers. The instruments on the rover stood up to the challenge of the very low temperature in the lunar night. The rover can recieve the command from the ground station. We have also recieved the the data from the rover. Except some sensitive components, most of the functions of the rover have been recovered. Its experience can contribute much for all future lunar mission, both lander or rover.The lunar and planetary missions are not easy for any country. They always give us joy mingled with surprise. We anticipate the brave Jade Rabbit get new discovery on the Moon. Cheers.

Posted by: Explorer1 Feb 13 2014, 04:58 AM

It might be possible to make a visual diagnosis of the panel hinges or whatever the jammed part is, given that the lander is operational and still nearby? It all hinges on whether Yutu can drive or not, but it would take out a lot of guesswork on figuring out the issue (Galileo's high gain antenna comes to mind).

Posted by: elakdawalla Feb 13 2014, 05:36 AM

Remember that the lander's main camera no longer works -- it failed (as expected) after the first night.

Posted by: Explorer1 Feb 13 2014, 06:21 AM

Yeah, I heard about the topography camera failure, but we know there were three others on the sides, given those great perspectives on landing day.
I was just thinking of all those other missions with mysterious failures that could have been solved or at least diagnosed by a nearby pair of eyes (or hands with a nice wrench/brush/lubricant)!


Posted by: A.Nemo Feb 13 2014, 12:00 PM

QUOTE (Paolo @ Feb 13 2014, 02:27 PM) *
this image from one of the TV reports has been posted on a French forum
http://www.servimg.com/image_preview.php?i=398&u=17604920
I think we have never seen it before, and it looks like a perspective from late on the first lunar day

EDIT: I post the image below because I don't trust these image hosting sites...


Yutu Awake, CCTV have reported:
http://news.cntv.cn/2014/02/13/VIDE1392290645405335.shtml

Chang'e-3 have Awaked, too

 

Posted by: Thorsten Denk Feb 21 2014, 09:29 PM

Two days from now, on Sunday 23 at 22:20 UT,
will be the third sunset for the two spacecraft.

News from Yωtω have gone down to zero.
Are there maybe some chinese natives who know more?
If so, please let us know! Thank's a lot! Xiθxie!

Thorsten

Posted by: Paolo Feb 21 2014, 09:50 PM

there was a release in Chinese 2 days ago http://www.chinanews.com/mil/2014/02-19/5856563.shtml
troubleshooting continues. no more details given

Posted by: Cosmic Penguin Feb 23 2014, 04:17 AM

Whatever it is, it looks like the "problem" is wheel/bogie related, as it turns out that Yutu was almost fully operational on the third lunar day (which it didn't move for the whole period), with the PanCam, VIRS and GPM working (I assume that the APXS is too, just that ground controllers aren't bothered with pulling its arm out): http://www.chinanews.com/mil/2014/02-23/5870836.shtml

And of course the lander's LUT and EUV imager were working as well for the whole lunar day. The lander went into hibernation for the 3rd lunar night yesterday, with the lander following several hours ago.

Here's a (new?) photo by the PanCam of the rover:

 

Posted by: kenny Feb 23 2014, 08:51 AM

I think that is indeed a 'new' photo, taken from a position South-west of the lander. My guess is it is taken from fairly close to the lander, from a position not shown on Phil's map -- in other words,
after coming round the lander Yutu perhaps made an excursion westwards which has not been noticed or recorded so far.

An alternative explanation for that view might be that it was taken in zoom mode from the 11-14 January position or later. However, I think that less plausible because of the clear view it shows of the
turning tracks made after deployment - those would be surely more foreshortened if seen in zoom from a distance.

Edit: one further thought... the shadows of the 2 deployment ramps in the 'new' photo are cast directly below the ramps, showing the sun was due south and therefore it was local midday.
The earlier post deployment photos of Chang'e from Yutu were taken well after midday, as the link below shows. Hence, the 'new' picture was perhaps taken on Day 2.

http://www.unmannedspaceflight.com/index.php?act=attach&type=post&id=31753

Posted by: dilo Feb 24 2014, 06:30 AM

QUOTE (Cosmic Penguin @ Feb 23 2014, 05:17 AM) *
Here's a (new?) photo by the PanCam of the rover:

In this site the pictures are two, from left and right mastcam:
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/photo/2014-02/23/c_133136783_2.htm
Here below the crossed eye version:

Posted by: kenny Feb 24 2014, 07:05 AM

So this status report alongside the picture, implies that Yutu could even have taken the 'new' photo on Day 3....

" This undated photo taken by the camera on the Yutu moon rover shows the Chang'e-3 moon lander and the moon surface. The Chang'e-3 lander entered its third dormancy on early Feb. 23, 2014. China's
lunar rover Yutu also entered the dormancy on Feb. 22, with the mechanical control issues that might cripple the vehicle still unresolved. According to the State Administration of Science, Technology
and Industry for National Defence (SASTIND), Yutu only carried out fixed point observations during its third lunar day, equivalent to about two weeks on Earth.
Yutu's radar, panorama camera and infrared imaging equipment are functioning normally, the control issues that have troubled the rover since January persist. (Xinhua/SASTIND) "

And the parallax on those 2 left/right photos shows they were definitely taken close the lander from the SW, at a new position.

Posted by: Explorer1 Feb 24 2014, 08:16 AM

Ah, so they did move back towards the lander after all. Whether the remaining B/W cameras can make out a visible fault is the multimillion yuan question...

Posted by: Hungry4info Feb 25 2014, 12:24 PM

http://www.moondaily.com/reports/Is_Yutu_Stuck_999.html
http://www.spacedaily.com/reports/No_Call_for_Yutu_999.html

Some updates, with more elabouration on the technical state of the rover.

Posted by: Cosmic Penguin Mar 1 2014, 05:47 AM

The "problem" with the rover has finally been reported: some sort of electrical problem with the motor-driving circuit board. That's still unresolved as of right now so some luck is needed again for the rover to wake up on the next lunar sunrise.

http://news.xinhuanet.com/politics/2014-03/01/c_119561976.htm

Posted by: Paolo Mar 1 2014, 06:56 AM

I can't see how a motor-driving board can put at risk the night hibernation. unless of course it also controls the retractable solar panels

Posted by: Cosmic Penguin Mar 1 2014, 07:31 AM

QUOTE (Paolo @ Mar 1 2014, 02:56 PM) *
I can't see how a motor-driving board can put at risk the night hibernation. unless of course it also controls the retractable solar panels


It seems that's exactly what Ye Peijian implying...

Posted by: Paolo Mar 1 2014, 08:34 AM

yep, there is now also an http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/china/2014-03/01/c_133152096.htm where it is stated:

QUOTE
"Normal dormancy needs Yutu to fold its mast and solar panels," said Ye. "The driving unit malfunction prevented Yutu to do those actions."

Posted by: Phil Stooke Mar 1 2014, 03:44 PM

If they can't fold one panel over the warm box, they probably can't tilt the other one down to face the rising sun (so it has to rise higher to shine on the panel and generate power). If they can't drive they may not be oriented to face that panel towards the rising sun, causing further delay.

Phil


Posted by: William Pei Mar 4 2014, 09:53 AM

Chang'E 4 will launch this year, Ye Peijian also said: Chang'E 4 will landing a more challengeable place on the moon or even not the moon. So we may have two rabbit on the moon or another rabbit on some asteroid?

Posted by: kenny Mar 4 2014, 03:53 PM

In that case, we may need a new thread for Chang'e 4, as we already have 5 covered.

A landing on anywhere other than the moon is a whole different game requiring extensive mission re-design.

Posted by: Phil Stooke Mar 4 2014, 04:05 PM

I had the impression that a non-lunar option had been considered at some point in the past, but personally I would expect that the desire to demonstrate a fix for YuTu's problem would be most important now, as well as a wish to drive a much greater distance.

Phil


Posted by: Cosmic Penguin Mar 4 2014, 06:14 PM

QUOTE (William Pei @ Mar 4 2014, 05:53 PM) *
Chang'E 4 will launch this year, Ye Peijian also said: Chang'E 4 will landing a more challengeable place on the moon or even not the moon. So we may have two rabbit on the moon or another rabbit on some asteroid?


Are you sure? I saw 2016 mentioned elsewhere on the Chinese side.......


Posted by: Phil Stooke Mar 4 2014, 11:36 PM

This is the new image of tracks showing my interpretation, and an alternative.

The image is a composite of two, the upper left and lower right panels of the 4-panel image put on the LROC site. The pre-landing image is used to partially subtract topography - only partially as the lighting is different. I want to emphasize tracks.

In the right half I overlay red lines: the tracks as I mapped them in the map thread, and blue lines: another possible interpretation.

Phil


Posted by: William Pei Mar 5 2014, 07:15 AM

QUOTE (Cosmic Penguin @ Mar 5 2014, 02:14 AM) *
Are you sure? I saw 2016 mentioned elsewhere on the Chinese side.......


As a backup spaceship, Chang'E 2 was launched at next year of Chang'E 1, so Chang'E 4 will most possibly to launch at 2014, but this is depend on the progress of Longmarch-5 rocket and Wenchang space center, if Chang'E 4 decide launch at there, may be delay to 2015, but no more late than that time, because Chang'E 5 will launch at 2017 by an officilal statement.

Posted by: Thorsten Denk Mar 10 2014, 06:53 AM

Next Sunrise in 4 hours.
Will there be again a sign of life from Yωtω? sad.gif
(In two days or so of course!)

Thorsten

Posted by: Yeh Mar 10 2014, 11:03 PM

News this morning: http://news.sina.com.cn/c/2014-03-11/033929674756.shtml (in Chinese)

Ye Peijian mentioned that a "test probe" for Chang'E 5 will be launched late this year. The probe "will not land on the Moon or take samples", "simply travel to the Moon and come back". But he did not indicate this will be Chang'E 4 or just as a separate test mission.

Posted by: Explorer1 Mar 10 2014, 11:24 PM

Sounds like a free return trajectory. Or perhaps braking into orbit and then escaping again for the challenge?

Posted by: Phil Stooke Mar 11 2014, 02:25 AM

This is a quite separate mission, not Chang'E 4, and just intended to test the heat shield etc. for return to Earth.

Phil

Posted by: Paolo Mar 11 2014, 07:50 AM

QUOTE (Explorer1 @ Mar 11 2014, 12:24 AM) *
Sounds like a free return trajectory.


apparently it will be a Chang'e-1 bus mated to the Chang'e 5 sample return capsule injected in a free return, lunar flyby orbit. I wonder if they will envisage a secondary mission for the bus, which will remain in a high energy, C3~=0 Earth orbit unless it reenters the atmosphere together with the capsule.

Posted by: Phil Stooke Mar 12 2014, 04:18 PM

According to this website:

http://news.163.com/14/0312/19/9N5KNCJ300014JB6.html

It seems Yutu has woken up again, thereby officially exceeding its design lifetime - if this Google translation (and my interpretation of it) is reliable:

"China news agency, Beijing, March 12 - "'Rabbit' is now in good shape, you can also expect extended service a long time." CPPCC National Committee, China Aerospace Science and Industry Group's third dean Weiyi Yin accepted in Beijing on the 12th News Agency reporter that interview.

Rabbit numbers is China's first lunar rover vehicles, the design life is three months. December 15, 2013, Chang E III lander and rover isolated rabbit numbers, "rabbit" successfully arrived on the lunar surface. 23:45 that night, the completion rabbit numbers rotate camera around Chang E on the 3rd and returns photos. Early morning of January 25 this year, Chang E III lunar rover before entering the second moonlit night sleep, the rover body control abnormal, February 10, the first rabbit No. wake fails, the night of February 12, lunar rabbit the car has been fully awake state is getting better, but the "agency" problems still need to be further recovery.

Weiyi Yin told reporters that despite the "rabbit" design life is approaching, but it is now in good shape, had been sick but wake up, long life than expected design life of many. "

Posted by: Yeh Mar 12 2014, 07:14 PM

Phil - to me it seems Mr. Yin is just repeating what happened in Feb. It is a common practice for the delegrates to say something positive at the CPPCC, so no, I don't think he is saying Yutu's waking up.

Posted by: mcaplinger Mar 12 2014, 07:51 PM

https://twitter.com/uhf_satcom is the most reliable source at the moment IMHO, and nothing has been seen.

Posted by: Phil Stooke Mar 12 2014, 08:19 PM

OK, my apologies, it sounded good to me.

Phil


Posted by: A.Nemo Mar 14 2014, 01:23 AM

Yutu alive and send signals


Posted by: Thorsten Denk Mar 14 2014, 06:46 AM

Great! smile.gif

Posted by: Liss Mar 15 2014, 06:42 PM

Don't know if this is correct -- just reasoning.

As of Ye Peijian, the source of the partial failure of Yutu was an electrical fault in a control circuit in its driving unit which prevented folding mast, closing upper deck with the right solar panel and making correct attitude of the left solar panel.

This explanation contradicts official statements from January 25 which stated all pre-sleep actions had been conducted correctly.
And this explanation does not explain absense of any movement since January 22.
I also doubt a certain circuit is in charge for both articulating panels and powering wheel and direction control motors.

Could it be another way?

We know Yutu is very sensitive to night time attitude that should be of southern bearing and almost level roll (+1°...-2° or so) to have optimal thermal state in the morning at the moment of awaking.
If the problem appeared in the rover drive system which prevented taking this correct attitude on January 25 this naturally explains almost everything:
* absense of movement since then;
* fears of extreme cold in the night;
* late wake-up and early sleep in Lunar Day 3 vs. Day 2;
* and even the visible non-horizontality of both horizon and Chang'e 3 upper deck in the Lunar Day 3 stereo pair.

What do you think?

Posted by: Phil Stooke Mar 18 2014, 01:27 AM

Don't think of a single circuit, think of a single circuit board... maybe?

Anyhoo... just saw an LPSC poster with a full route map on it plus topo map and reprojected photomap... more news later.

Phil


Posted by: Phil Stooke Mar 18 2014, 04:28 AM

Revisiting the interpretation of Yutu tracks seen by LRO... this is a blow-up of the LRO image with the tracks and stops shown at LPSC. Red dots are stops between drives and blue dots are the sites of the main science activities.

The map shown at LPSC ended before Yutu drove to its final location as revealed by LRO, but not much before, as you can see.

There may be some small improvements to come, as I have seen reprojected images which fine-tune the route in the south, but basically this can be taken as nearly the final word on the route.

I will put together a more complete map later in the route map section.

Phil



Posted by: Paolo Mar 19 2014, 08:50 PM

a short news story including the LPSC results: http://www.nature.com/news/china-s-moon-rover-awake-but-immobile-1.14906

Posted by: Explorer1 Mar 19 2014, 09:14 PM

Since this seems to be the Chinese equivalent of Pathfinder/Sojourner, we should be looking forward to their MERs next time...

Posted by: Liss Mar 20 2014, 12:33 PM

QUOTE (Phil Stooke @ Mar 18 2014, 08:28 AM) *
The map shown at LPSC ended before Yutu drove to its final location as revealed by LRO, but not much before, as you can see.




Nice to see the LRO tracks confirmed.

Meanwhile, in the long article http://www.chinanews.com/mil/2014/03-19/5969485.shtml they say that due to the unspecified failure some or all of the three conditions for Yutu night mode were not met before the second lunar night:

QUOTE
故障尚未解决,第二个月夜却要到来。当初,科研人员对月球车正常情况下进入月夜的姿态有三个设计:一是车头朝南,二是车身的左右侧倾斜在负二度到正一度之间,三是太阳翼和桅杆要收拢。“玉兔”生病后,三个条件都无法满足。

Failure is not resolved, the second Moon night has to come. At first, researchers under normal circumstances rover attitude into the moon night with three designs: first, front facing south; second, the left and right side of the body tilt between minus two degrees to plus one; third, solar wing and mast are folded. "Rabbit" after illness, three conditions are not met.


I stick to my earlier guess: Yutu lost the capability of moving between Jan 14 and Jan 21, hence couldn't met conditions (1) and (2).

Posted by: Phil Stooke Mar 20 2014, 01:50 PM

Even if they could not move, in an effort to keep alive at all costs they would still have folded the mast and closed the folding panel if they could, so I expect that capability is also lost.


Meanwhile... trying to put together information gleaned at LPSC: the route map I referred to earlier included a dashed line extending NNE past the lander and approaching the blocky-rimmed crater just north of the lander. The author told me that was the intended path of the drive before the failure, so I think the rover was not trying to reach the lander for diagnostic purposes as some have suggested. It was simply bypassing it on the way to the next target. And the speaker on Monday said the plan after that was to loop around to the northern rim of the large crater to the west, to look into it from that direction.

That speaker was originally going to talk about route planning for the rover (the abstract and a published paper had indicated two targets for possible visits, NE and SW of the lander). But that part of the talk was dropped.

Phil

Posted by: Phil Stooke Mar 21 2014, 05:04 PM

Another goodie from today, a speaker showed the first views I've seen from the Hazcam, looking at APXS deployment on the surface on 24 December.

Phil

Posted by: kenny Mar 21 2014, 05:58 PM

Nice, look forward to seeing that in due course.... any views of the pyramidal rock we've all been longing to see?

Posted by: Phil Stooke Mar 21 2014, 07:00 PM

No, none at all, but there was a clear statement that the APXS was not used on any rocks, only on regolith. I might speculate that the big rock was found to be too steep-sided (or otherwise unsuitable) for APXS placement, so they turned north to get to the northern rocky crater to find a suitable rock.

Phil


Posted by: Phil Stooke Mar 22 2014, 12:49 AM

Another update, in case anybody had not seen this:

http://www.spaceref.com/news/viewpr.html?pid=42839

http://iloa.org/media/Astronomy%20from%20the%20Moon_314.pdf

So... more than 22000 images from the ultraviolet telescope already. ILOA will have a small telescope on the first Moon Express lander in 2015 as well, and China gets to share the use of it as ILOA gets to share the use of this Chinese telescope.

Phil

Posted by: Explorer1 Apr 13 2014, 03:08 AM

It's been two weeks and the Sun is up; no news from either component?
The eclipse is in a few days, even without pointing the cameras straight up to Earth the landscape lighting will be eerie...

Posted by: Liss Apr 14 2014, 06:27 PM

Word is she's alive: http://www.guokr.com/post/581203/

Posted by: A.Nemo Apr 17 2014, 12:29 PM

http://www.stdaily.com/jbsj/yb/201404/t20140417_690814.shtml
对于“嫦娥”“玉兔”来说,这次日食发生时,它们才从月夜中唤醒没多久。仿佛刚到上午,天又黑了。杨宇光说,由于探测器所处区域被地球阴影覆盖了几个小时,会出现温度骤降的情况。但“嫦娥”“玉兔”原本就是按照月昼、月夜两种极限工况设计的,应对这样的温度不会有太大问题。
此外,日食期间探测器供电系统失去了太阳能,杨宇光认为,为避免出现能源问题,可以采取不做动作、关闭科学载荷等方式降低能耗。“就好比让‘嫦娥’‘玉兔’打个盹,睡个‘回笼觉’。”他说。
据悉,“嫦娥”“玉兔”已安全度过这次考验。

after eclipse ,chang'e-3 & yutu still alive,but the news didn't comment eclipse photos

Posted by: A.Nemo Apr 18 2014, 04:03 AM

http://tech.scichina.com:8082/sciE/CN/volumn/volumn_6847.shtml
chang'e-3 special issue
another issue:
http://info.scichina.com:8084/sciF/CN/volumn/volumn_6846.shtml

Posted by: Phil Stooke Apr 28 2014, 08:06 PM

I have heard nothing, even from https://twitter.com/uhf_satcom that suggests any contact at all with the lander or the rover during the most recent lunar day.

Phil


Posted by: Paolo May 13 2014, 05:20 AM

https://twitter.com/uhf_satcom is reporting detection of Yutu again! (carrier only for the moment)

Posted by: A.Nemo May 15 2014, 03:53 AM

http://tech.scichina.com:8082/sciE/CN/volumn/current.shtml
Chang'E 3 special issue Ⅱ: System Design and Verification

Posted by: Paolo May 28 2014, 01:49 PM

a rare update from Xinhua http://www.icrosschina.com/news/2014/0528/363.shtml

Posted by: Paolo Jun 14 2014, 07:04 AM

a spectrum from UHF_satcom: Yutu is downlinking data again. I am surprised by how resilient the poor rover is!
http://pjm.uhf-satcom.com/twtr/yutu_130614.jpg

Posted by: A.Nemo Jun 18 2014, 03:55 AM

a paper have been published in copuos2014:
Chinese Lunar Exploration Program
http://www.oosa.unvienna.org/pdf/pres/copuos2014/tech-06.pdf

something about Chang'e-3:
During the day time of the first 4 months, the Lander got 118.5GB original detecting data.
Extreme ultraviolet camera:Obtained more than 600 images in total.
Lunar-based astronomical telescop:Observe the brightness and variances at near-UV band for various celestial bodies. Up till now, more than 32,000 images have been obtained.

The Patroller (Yutu) got 32GB original detecting data

current status:
The 6th moon night by May 23
The Lander is proper functioning
Patroller(Yutu) encountered control fault, part of the loading works normally
Under the abnormal condition and the extreme low temperature, the
patroller(Yutu)’s performances are gradually degenerated

Posted by: Phil Stooke Jun 18 2014, 02:27 PM

Very nice - note that the images of the rover and crater can stand quite a bit of enlargement.

I tried to fit the picture of the big rock to this one - they don't join, and they may not be from the same location.



Phil

Posted by: Phil Stooke Jun 18 2014, 02:33 PM

This is a list of day-night dates for Chang'E 3, from the International Lunar Observatory Association:

http://iloa.org/media/Chang'e3_Lunar_Day_Night_Cycle.pdf

They have an agreement with the mission to use some of the telescope data from the lander, in exchange for Chinese access to their data from a telescope to be delivered to the lunar south pole by Moon Express.

Phil


Posted by: charborob Jun 18 2014, 03:13 PM

QUOTE (A.Nemo @ Jun 17 2014, 10:55 PM) *
a paper have been published in copuos2014:
Chinese Lunar Exploration Program
http://www.oosa.unvienna.org/pdf/pres/copuos2014/tech-06.pdf

That document is a bit ambiguous about Chang'e 4. It is indicated in the "Roadmap", but not mentioned anywhere else. After the pages about Chang'e 3, the documents skips to Chang'e 5 (sample return in 2017). Could it mean that Chang'e 4 will not be flown?

Posted by: Phil Stooke Jun 18 2014, 04:42 PM

I think there is some uncertainty about the role of Chang'E 4, with options including flying an upgraded lander and rover, going to a different destination (Mars, asteroid), or not flying it to focus more on the next mission. If I had any say in the matter I would try to resolve the problem experienced by Yutu and fly the rover to a different site to try to achieve a longer and more productive traverse. The continued survival of the rover despite its inability to protect its systems overnight - and the survival of the lander - shows that the overall design is excellent, and if the mobility problem could be fixed a long and productive traverse should be possible.

Phil

Posted by: Paolo Jun 20 2014, 11:29 AM

two popular articles on Yutu on Xinhua today:
http://www.icrosschina.com/insideout/2014/0620/690.shtml
and
http://www.icrosschina.com/profile/2014/0620/679.shtml

Posted by: Paolo Jun 21 2014, 12:28 PM

and on Nature's website: http://www.nature.com/news/china-s-lunar-rover-limps-into-another-long-night-1.15428
I understand their desire to publish in Chinese peer reviewed literature, but why go for such a low impact factor publication like http://www.raa-journal.org/raa/index.php/raa?

Posted by: aventor.com Jun 21 2014, 04:23 PM

QUOTE (Paolo @ Jun 21 2014, 12:28 PM) *
I understand their desire to publish in Chinese peer reviewed literature, but why go for such a low impact factor publication like http://www.raa-journal.org/raa/index.php/raa?

You're assuming that Western funding mechanisms (with resulting concerns about impact metrics) apply in China.
Maybe they don't. Maybe they do science funding differently.
Chinese ties to the chosen publication (RAA) may well be more important to the Chinese.

Admittedly, I'm just speculating. I don't actually know how they do things.

Posted by: Phil Stooke Jun 27 2014, 12:03 AM

A very interesting paper has just appeared "in press" in Planetary and Space Science:


Geological Features and evolution history of sinus Iridum, the moon
Original Research Article
In Press, Accepted Manuscript, Available online 25 June 2014
Le Qiao, Long Xiao, Jiannan Zhao, Qian Huang, Junichi Haruyama


It describes the Sinus Iridum area and identifies two landing sites for future missions, "robotic or human". Neither one is at the Chang'E 3 site.


Phil

Posted by: wildespace Jul 7 2014, 04:44 PM

http://www.facebook.com/ChinaSpace page on Facebook has just posted this image from Yutu: http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=749390038455333



Not sure if this image has been posted before, or which lunar day and position it is from.

Also found this image of the large boulder, dubbed Dragon Rock: http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=737090639685273


I wonder if the brownish colouration in these images is due to camera's texhnical aspects, or is actually what the camera sees. Normalising colours in Photoshop and then enhancing saturation reveals a slightly brownish surface with bluish rocks.

Posted by: Phil Stooke Jul 8 2014, 05:05 AM

The first of these images is the one published in that paper referred to just above (EDIT - I mean A.Nemo's post ten posts above this one). It shows the rocky wall of the crater west of the lander, probably the southern part of its western wall. It was taken from somewhere near the Dragon Rock, but it doesn't join the rock image. There are a couple of distant hills which are part of a crater rim west of the western crater.


Phil

Posted by: Phil Stooke Jul 13 2014, 05:09 PM

Word from https://twitter.com/uhf_satcom is that Yutu is transmitting again, but no direct word yet from the lander. This is the 8th lunar day for Yutu.


Phil

Posted by: dilo Jul 23 2014, 06:14 AM

An article with interview to Zhang Yuhua, deputy chief designer of the lunar probe system for the Chang'e-3 mission:
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/china/2014-07/21/c_133499472.htm
Based on this interview, Yutu might have been damaged by knocking against rocks on a lunar surface that is more complicated than expected from "foreign researchers" data (no comment!).

Posted by: Phil Stooke Aug 18 2014, 02:43 PM

The latest from from https://twitter.com/uhf_satcom is that Yutu has been transmitting again in the last few days. Still alive! This was the 9th lunar day for Yutu - just ended.


Phil

Posted by: kenny Aug 19 2014, 12:48 PM

Albeit its functionality is severely limited, it is now the second longest lived lunar rover, having exceed the 3 short-duration Apollo rovers and
Lunokhod 2, which only made it through 4 lunar days. It is creeping up on Lunokhod 1, which lasted over 11 lunar days.

Posted by: tolis Aug 19 2014, 10:07 PM

QUOTE (kenny @ Aug 19 2014, 01:48 PM) *
Albeit its functionality is severely limited, it is now the second longest lived lunar rover, having exceed the 3 short-duration Apollo rovers and
Lunokhod 2, which only made it through 4 lunar days. It is creeping up on Lunokhod 1, which lasted over 11 lunar days.


yes, but one could argue that, since it has been unable to move for some time, it can no longer be considered a "rover".

Posted by: Explorer1 Aug 19 2014, 11:04 PM

Was Spirit not a rover anymore when it got stuck? I think it was! wink.gif
Unless Yutu's wheels suddenly fall off it should be considered the same...

Posted by: djellison Aug 19 2014, 11:06 PM

QUOTE (Explorer1 @ Aug 19 2014, 04:04 PM) *
Was Spirit not a rover anymore when it got stuck? I think it was! wink.gif


Senior management would disagree

QUOTE (NASA Release)
After six years of unprecedented exploration of the Red Planet, NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Spirit no longer will be a fully mobile robot. NASA has designated the once-roving scientific explorer a stationary science platform after efforts during the past several months to free it from a sand trap have been unsuccessful.

http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/mer/news/mer20100126.html

Posted by: Explorer1 Aug 19 2014, 11:55 PM

Touchι, but even the team members' quotes refer to Spirit as a rover when talking about its future life expectancy!
Let's leave well enough alone; we could open a can of worms like the planet definition debate....

Posted by: Phil Stooke Aug 20 2014, 04:30 AM

When did a scientist or engineer ever take instruction from management on such a topic?

Phil

Posted by: Cosmic Penguin Aug 21 2014, 06:11 PM

So on a different topic......there is an exhibition about Chang'e 3 (as well as the orbiters #1/2) right now at the Hong Kong Science Museum, which has some big models of the lander and rover, as well as some back up hardware of the science instruments on display. I took some photos yesterday and I shall put them up here shortly. wink.gif

Posted by: Paolo Sep 6 2014, 08:09 AM

http://news.xinhuanet.com/tech/2014-09/04/c_1112367913.htm on Yutu and Chang'e 3: Yutu is about to enter its 10th lunar day and four instruments are operating normally (camera, radar, APXS, IR spectrometer).

QUOTE
"The lander current physical condition is very good."



Posted by: Phil Stooke Sep 7 2014, 03:29 AM

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XMnoJWJ8CY0&feature=youtu.be

Link to a video of a panorama from Yutu. If anyone finds the pan as a downloadable image, please let us know!

EDIT - I just did a quick reprojection job and realized - this is not from the end of the route as I assumed at first, or as a description of it seems to suggest - this is from very close to the big rock (Dragon Rock) at the position labelled 14-01-2014 on my route map. So it is newly released but not newly taken.

Phil

Posted by: A.Nemo Sep 7 2014, 03:50 AM

https://twitter.com/uhf_satcom/status/508349764279480320
@uhf_satcom have recieved yutu's signals

Posted by: Paolo Sep 7 2014, 06:41 AM

QUOTE (Phil Stooke @ Sep 7 2014, 05:29 AM) *
this is from very close to the big rock (Dragon Rock) at the position labelled 14-01-2014 on my route map. So it is newly released but not newly taken.


thanks for clarifying this. I had the same impression but I have seen the new panorama reported many times as newly taken

Posted by: Phil Stooke Sep 7 2014, 04:09 PM

Here's a link to the Hong Kong Science Museum exhibit on lunar exploration:

http://hk.science.museum/ms/cle/eindex.html

Phil

Posted by: Paolo Sep 13 2014, 08:22 PM

the wait is almost over... on the http://www.raa-journal.org/docs/papers_accepted.html site:

QUOTE
Vol 14 No. 12 (2014)
To be published on November 15, 2014

Chang'E 3 Special Issue


Posted by: Phil Stooke Nov 11 2014, 08:30 PM

"UHF Satcom @uhf_satcom · Nov 7

Again nothing from the Chinese Yutu rover or Chang'e'3 lander on X-Band - seems odd unless its all been turned off !"
---------------------


Tweet from https://twitter.com/uhf_satcom says no contact at all with Yutu or its lander this lunar day.

Phil

Posted by: A.Nemo Dec 17 2014, 12:49 AM

officcial have released some photos of CE-3&Yutu
http://moon.bao.ac.cn/multimedia/img2dce3.jsp

Posted by: Explorer1 Dec 17 2014, 01:02 AM

Fantastic; thanks for the heads-up! A good look at the big boulder at last.

Edit: and that amazing 'self-portrait' of Yutu reflected in the lander's mirror:
http://moon.bao.ac.cn/_data/multimedia/imgce3/029.%C3%A5%C2%85%C2%A8%C3%A6%C2%99%C2%AF%C3%A5%C2%B7%C2%A6%C3%A7%C2%9B%C2%B8%C3%A6%C2%9C%C2%BA%C3%A9%C2%95%C2%B6%C3%A5%C2%B5%C2%8C-%C3%A8%C2%AF%C2%95%C3%A6%C2%88%C2%90%C3%A5%C2%83%C2%8F%C3%A5%C2%9B%C2%BE%C3%AF%C2%BC%C2%88%C3%A6%C2%89%C2%8B%C3%A5%C2%8A%C2%A820ms%C3%AF%C2%BC%C2%89-D%C3%A7%C2%82%C2%B9.jpg

Posted by: charborob Dec 17 2014, 02:00 AM

And here's a panorama of the big rock (Loong Yan - Dragon Rock):


Posted by: bill davis Dec 17 2014, 04:22 AM

A nice little pre-holiday present.



I just had to put the earth in.

Posted by: Paolo Dec 17 2014, 06:41 AM

and an update on the mission. seems to be still alive...
http://www.ecns.cn/cns-wire/2014/12-15/146672.shtml

Posted by: A.Nemo Jan 1 2015, 01:26 PM

2014.12.02, Chang'e-3 Lander‘s LUT have captured a photo of galaxy M101


 

Posted by: elakdawalla Jan 2 2015, 12:00 AM

Coooool! What is the source?

Posted by: A.Nemo Jan 2 2015, 09:00 AM

QUOTE (elakdawalla @ Jan 2 2015, 08:00 AM) *
Coooool! What is the source?


YeH(http://meteor.uwo.ca/~quanzhi/) posted on weibo : http://weibo.com/u/1705147594

Posted by: Phil Stooke Jan 5 2015, 04:41 PM

Or, if you want a more formal source:

http://www.lunarenterprisedaily.com/2014/12/31/breaking-news-special-new-year-editionthursday-1-january-2015/

Phil

Posted by: Paolo Jan 16 2015, 06:42 PM

CE-3 is pretty much alive and just went into hibernation for the 14th time
http://www.sastind.gov.cn/n112/n117/c467119/content.html

Posted by: Paolo Jan 18 2015, 08:15 AM

this just out (in Chinese): http://zgkj.cast.cn/EN/abstract/abstract10795.shtml

Posted by: NGC3314 Jan 19 2015, 08:51 PM

QUOTE (A.Nemo @ Jan 2 2015, 04:00 AM) *
YeH(http://meteor.uwo.ca/~quanzhi/) posted on weibo : http://weibo.com/u/1705147594


Impressive as the achievement is, and as much as I'm cheering for more UV imaging from the Moon, it's not the first galaxy imaged from the Moon. The Apollo 16 Carruthers camera obtained detailed UV images of the Large Magellanic Cloud and UV detection of at least NGC 55.

Posted by: tedstryk Jan 20 2015, 05:00 AM

QUOTE (Phil Stooke @ Jan 5 2015, 05:41 PM) *
Or, if you want a more formal source:

http://www.lunarenterprisedaily.com/2014/12/31/breaking-news-special-new-year-editionthursday-1-january-2015/

Phil


Except it isn't the first galaxy imaged from the moon http://history.nasa.gov/SP-404/ch2.htm

Posted by: Phil Stooke Sep 29 2015, 02:05 PM

Yutu is still alive! I hadn't heard anything for months.

------------------------------------------------
UHF Satcom ‏@uhf_satcom · Sep 27
Yutu Lunar Rover back on the air downlinking on 8462.046MHz - good signals! Carrier only, no sign of modulation.
-------------------------------------------------

That was before the eclipse. It was not transmitting after the eclipse.

Nearly 2 years alive on the surface.

Phil


Posted by: Phil Stooke Oct 6 2015, 03:17 AM

New official IAU names for the landing site and the three nearby craters.

Phil


Posted by: elakdawalla Oct 6 2015, 03:24 AM

Neat! Can you point to links/citations for these?

Posted by: Phil Stooke Oct 6 2015, 10:56 AM

The landing site name is from here:

http://planetarynames.wr.usgs.gov/Feature/15415

The crater names are shown on the USGS/IAU Planetary Nomenclature website map at:

http://planetarynames.wr.usgs.gov/images/Lunar/lac_24_wac.pdf

The crater names are also listed in a table I posted on the Yutu route map thread, with their meanings.


Phil


Posted by: John Moore Oct 7 2015, 09:59 AM

Phil

If it's of any use, I was on to Rosylyn at the IAU yesterday inquiring about location-markers (say, coordinates, photo, map-locations) for the three features (features, just in case, we may not be dealing with craters alone), and she's looking into getting any markers, if possible, for me. Will post here if anything pop's up today, else, Emily might come up with something.

John
---------------
John Moore

Posted by: Phil Stooke Oct 7 2015, 02:25 PM

Hi John - the features are craters, and this map identifies them using a translation of the names. This is from the paper I cited in the Yutu route map thread.

Phil


Posted by: Phil Stooke Oct 7 2015, 04:27 PM

And via a tweet by Emily and this link:

http://arxiv.org/abs/1510.01435

comes news that the UV telescope is not only still working, but regularly returns 10000 images per month.

Posted by: John Moore Oct 7 2015, 07:38 PM

Thanks, Phil.

Rosalyn did get back to me, and it looks like those marked are the craters - she also supplied the coordinates, which might suit (below).

The first two coordinate columns are those given to the IAU on request for high resolution imagery, while the last two columns are those measured by Rosylyn to suit low resolution imagery in IAU images (these coordinates will be truncated for the online Gazateer, I'm told). There will obviously be some discrepency with the high-rez versus the low-rez measurements. Much thanks goes out to Rosalyn for her work.

Name of Crater/ Latitude listed on name request/ Longitude listed on name request / Latitude measured by Rosalyn on low res image/ Longitude measured by Rosalyn on low res image/
Zi Wei/ 44.120115/ -19.524594/ 44.121780/ -19.519958/
Tian Shi/ 44.098828/ -19.453394/ 44.096718/ -19.447379/
Tai Wei/ 44.150548/ -19.501387/ 44.153366/ -19.492835/
Guang Han Gong/ 44.119612/ -19.512327/


Cheers
John
-------------
John Moore

Posted by: Phil Stooke Oct 27 2015, 03:02 AM

Yutu survives for yet another month...

-------------------------------------------

UHF Satcom ‏@uhf_satcom · Oct 25
YUTU Lunar Rover currently transmitting on 8462.0278MHz - not a bad signal, easy copy in the speaker. FFT to follow shortly.

UHF Satcom ‏@uhf_satcom · Oct 25
FFT of Yutu Lunar Rover's downlink signal on X-Band. LO=8GHz, IF=4xx MHz.


UHF Satcom ‏@uhf_satcom · 7 hours ago*
YUTU Lunar rover on air again tonite, no sidebands visible, just carrier. A good signal none the less.

-------------------------------------------

* Oct 26th

Phil

Posted by: tolis Oct 27 2015, 08:29 AM

Amazing. I can only imagine where the rover would be by now had it remained mobile.


Posted by: Phil Stooke Nov 24 2015, 01:27 AM

Via Twitter, another good day on the Moon:

UHF Satcom ‏@uhf_satcom 5 hours ago *
YUTU Lunar Rover on air at present downlinking on 8462.0274MHz - receiving on the @sdrsharp AirSpy tonite. Good Sig!

* 23 November 2015


Phil

Posted by: Explorer1 Nov 24 2015, 01:58 AM

More impressive with every passing month! biggrin.gif

Though I am wondering if there's a chance of getting good radio tracking science by virtue of the long immobility on the surface, like they wanted to do for Spirit when it got stuck? Or are the Moon's physical properties already so well known from the retroreflectors left behind (and other missions) that it would be redundant?

Posted by: Phil Stooke Nov 24 2015, 12:05 PM

You are right, tracking would not help much for the Moon. Also, because of the Moon's synchronous rotation (even taking libration into account) there is far less to measure than in the case of Mars. The laser reflectors are much more useful for this kind of thing.

Phil


Posted by: Phil Stooke Dec 19 2015, 06:44 AM

The sun will rise at Sinus Iridum in a day or so, and if Chang'E 3 and Yutu wake up they will have survived for two whole years on the surface, longer than anything except the ALSEPs.

Phil

Posted by: Phil Stooke Dec 24 2015, 11:41 PM

And Yutu did wake up (the lander too, presumably). So two years survival on the surface of the Moon. It would be nice to hear more about whether the lander and rover are still able to take pictures etc.

Phil

Posted by: Phil Stooke Jan 14 2016, 12:30 AM

Looking back at Yutu...

When Yutu was near the big rock (Loong Rock or Outer Fence) it made a panoramic mosaic of the rocky crater Zi Wei just to its west. There are several hills in the distance. Here is a very exaggerated view of them:




Taking their directions into account, I think we are seeing the rims of these two craters indicated here:



Phil

Posted by: Phil Stooke Feb 19 2016, 08:44 PM

Update on February 18th:

https://twitter.com/uhf_satcom

-------------------------------------

UHF Satcom ‏@uhf_satcom

Nothing again tonite on X-Band from either the Yutu lunar rover or the Chang'e'3 lander - will check again tomorrow!

-------------------------------------

The same (very useful) source detected nothing last month as well. Note that the negative result only applies to the specific times of monitoring, and there may have been activity when uhf_satcom was not facing (or listening to) the Moon but China was in contact.

Phil

Posted by: A.Nemo Feb 20 2016, 03:06 AM

QUOTE (Phil Stooke @ Feb 20 2016, 04:44 AM) *
Update on February 18th:

https://twitter.com/uhf_satcom

-------------------------------------

UHF Satcom ‏@uhf_satcom

Nothing again tonite on X-Band from either the Yutu lunar rover or the Chang'e'3 lander - will check again tomorrow!

-------------------------------------

The same (very useful) source detected nothing last month as well. Note that the negative result only applies to the specific times of monitoring, and there may have been activity when uhf_satcom was not facing (or listening to) the Moon but China was in contact.

Phil


http://energy.chinanews.com/sh/2016/02-19/7765315.shtml
"嫦娥三号"超期服役14个月 "嫦娥五号"转入正样研制

记者19日从中国国家国防科技工业局获悉,“嫦娥三号”着陆器于2月18日成功自主唤醒,进入第28个月昼,工作正常。

SASTIND told reporter, Chang'e-3 lander has been wake up on februrary 18,

Posted by: Phil Stooke Feb 20 2016, 07:19 AM

Thanks! That is very useful.

If you check out the link in the post above, there is a new image of the lander from the rover. It seems to have been taken in March 2014 from Yutu in its final resting place, and this is the first time I have seen it.

Phil

Posted by: A.Nemo Feb 25 2016, 01:52 PM

UHF Satcom ‏@uhf_satcom 2月22日
Another quick FFT of Yutu Rover X-Band downlink - nothing detected from Chang'e'3 lander or 7GHz uplinks.

UHF Satcom ‏@uhf_satcom 2月22日
Yutu Lunar Rover is back in town! A massive signal on 8462.053MHz complete with sidebands, maybe low-rate data.

Posted by: Phil Stooke May 18 2016, 06:00 AM

UHF Satcom ‏@uhf_satcom · 10 hours ago [ = the night of the 17th/18th of May ]

No signals from Chang'e'3 lander or Yutu Lunar Rover tonite - caught a glimpse of 8496MHz lander downlink last night but it was short lived.

----------------

Phil

(PS: UHF Satcom is in the UK, so transmissions when Chang'E 3 and Yutu are visible in China but not in the UK will not be detected)

Posted by: Phil Stooke Jun 20 2016, 07:05 PM

UHF Satcom reports no contact with Chang'E 3 or Yutu in June.

Phil


Posted by: A.Nemo Jul 29 2016, 08:03 AM

http://www.sastind.gov.cn/n112/n117/c6636073/content.html
State Administration for Science, Technology and Industry for National Defense(SASTIND) reports latest news of Chang'e3

嫦娥三号着陆器于7月28日按时进入第33月夜休眠期

Chang'e-3 lander sleep on july 28

Posted by: Thorsten Denk Sep 8 2016, 08:09 AM

https://www.360cities.net/sets/image_sets/chang-e-3-moon-enhanced
Put them full-screen, and you really think you're there!

Thorsten

Posted by: stevesliva Sep 8 2016, 09:29 PM

An image of earth is just plopped in there? Or there was a massive hurricane over Texas?

Posted by: Thorsten Denk Sep 8 2016, 09:37 PM

QUOTE (stevesliva @ Sep 8 2016, 11:29 PM) *
An image of earth is just plopped in there? Or there was a massive hurricane over Texas?


Earth and Sun are faked obviously...

Posted by: Phil Stooke Sep 28 2016, 10:40 PM

http://www.chinaspaceflight.com/satellite/Deepspace/CE-3/CE-3.html

According to this, Chang'E 3 has survived its 35th lunar day (September) and operated through the lunar eclipse on September 16, apparently using its telescope for astronomical observations during the eclipse.

Phil

Posted by: Phil Stooke May 6 2017, 03:33 PM

Today, May 6th, Chang'e 3 is expected to wake up for its 43rd lunar day. There is a schedule of day-night cycles here:

http://iloa.org/media/Chang'e3_Lunar_Day_Night_Cycle.pdf

That is from the International Lunar Observatory Association which has a data-sharing agreement with China to use its UV telescope data. The list was issued in February so presumably the lander was active at that time.

Phil

Posted by: Phil Stooke Jun 13 2017, 03:42 AM

Looking back at the lander panoramas, this is a circular version of a panorama to show the distance to some horizon features. The western horizon was only a few hundred metres away, but several distant hills showed above it (see post on the page before this on the forum). The eastern horizon was between 2 and 4 km away with some crater rims visible, and to the north some distant topography showed above a nearby crater rim. The next image tries to identify the more distant features.

Phil


Posted by: Phil Stooke Jun 13 2017, 03:45 AM

These maps zoom in to the lander location. In the first image some distant craters are indicated which appear to be the distant hills in the circular panorama. The northern hills might be crater rim or the ridge north of the crater.

Phil


Posted by: Phil Stooke Sep 8 2020, 08:24 PM

CE3's lander is still active! (as of June and July 2020 anyway):

https://twitter.com/df2mz/status/1282242945291374592

and

https://twitter.com/uhf_satcom/status/1267556732080971776


There's also this article in Chinese:

https://news.cctv.com/2020/09/02/ARTIqB5tNFMXy4y2fzFTXkhi200902.shtml


It refers to a recently published study using Yutu's radar data for subsurface structure and geological history. The original is here:

https://agupubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1029/2020GL088938

(it's not open access). But the Chinese article also mentions "As of September 1, 2020, Chang'e-3 has been in the moon for 2453 days, and it is now in a "retired" state, that is, in the long-term management stage, and part of the lander's scientific payload is still working." |(Google translation). That part of the payload might only be the communication system, for all this tells us, but it might also suggest the UV camera is still functioning. I have no confirmation of that, but I understand some papers from the UV data are in preparation.

PS - for a recent paper on the UV data, see https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1088/1674-4527/19/7/94/meta



Phil

Posted by: Phil Stooke Dec 19 2021, 05:38 PM

https://twitter.com/df2mz/status/1472497529711656964

Chang'e 3 lander still active on the Moon after 8 years. It is probably not doing very much, but still functioning.

Phil

Powered by Invision Power Board (http://www.invisionboard.com)
© Invision Power Services (http://www.invisionpower.com)