Yutu-2 route map Options

[Phil Stooke]

Another close-up map: this is the rock analyzed by VNIS on day 3:



And look! One rock has a name, Qi Yuan, translated as 'unexpected encounter'. The first name I've seen for any feature along the traverse. This comes from here:

https://els2020.arc.nasa.gov/abstracts (PDF file)

- the abstracts for the upcoming European Lunar Symposium, which will be held virtually next month. On Page 52 of the PDF file is an abstract about this rock with the name included. A full paper is due out soon but not yet available.

Phil

[Phil Stooke]

I have updated the route map based on a map in the latest drive diary:

https://mp.weixin.qq.com/s/n7ic77uIA-QtniYSRD6gcg

(thanks to Andrew Jones for pointing it out to me).

The 15th night location has been moved to a point where the daily distance figures make sense.

Phil

[Phil Stooke]

This map updates us to the end of lunar day 17. Using images from the latest drive diary tweeted by Andrew Jones I have been able to map the path reasonably well for day 17 (recent days have been based mostly on Chinese mapping). The exact locations of the last 2 points are a bit uncertain still.

Phil

[Paolo]

I don't know how useful it can be, but this paper (in Chinese) includes some details of the route of the first and second lunar day:

Modeling and application analysis of the pixel-spatial resolution of Yutu 2 rover with large-scale transformed images

[Phil Stooke]

Thanks, Paolo. This is interesting but doesn't add anything to the early route map which is well documented.

No move during day 18, but I believe we will be back in action for day 19. My map is not changed except for text updates, including the rock name mentioned earlier.

I have been enjoying seeing my map turn up on various Chinese forums and outlets, sometimes with little additions. It's fun to see it diffuse out into the world like that.

Phil

[Phil Stooke]

A tentative update to the end of the 19th day. No information about the actual path, I am just guessing from descriptions of what was done. An image showing tracks doesn't include anything from day 19, it was taken close to the previous night stop. Possibly it was taken at the mid-day stopping place as it has roughly mid-day lighting, but only more distant tracks are visible.

Phil

[Phil Stooke]

Another tentative update for the end of day 20. I hope to know more after the drive diary is published some time during the 20th lunar night.

Phil

[Phil Stooke]

A new drive diary was published here:

https://www.bilibili.com/read/cv6997981

It gives me details for a corrected map:



Only the last drive is guessed here. I think the map published in that article is for the end of the mid-day siesta (it's dated July 23), not the end of the day.

Phil

[Antdoghalo]

Hey Phil, could you please upload the map as 2 separate images every now and then so I can overlay them into Google Earth?

[Phil Stooke]

OK! Send me a reminder when you need it if I forget. These are larger files as well.

Phil

[Antdoghalo]

Many Thanks!

[Phil Stooke]

This is a bit of an experiment. I am plotting reprojected panoramas onto the base image, using only panoramas with morning to noon lighting (with one exception which I won't go into here). I'm working on the next section now. This version of the map has more information about where VNIS was used, the site numbers etc.

Phil

[Phil Stooke]

Update to the end of day 21. The last 2 sections of the drive are pure guesswork and very tentative.



Phil

[Phil Stooke]

Day 22 update. The last points on the previous map are corrected and day 22 should be good.

Phil

[Phil Stooke]

This is a quick update for lunar day 23. The exact path will be updated later but the path and the end point should be roughly correct.

Phil