China's Jade Rabbit lunar rover 'declared dead'

China's first lunar rover has been declared dead on the surface of the Moon, reports in state media say.

The robot "could not be restored to full function on Monday as expected", the China News Service said.

The Jade Rabbit, or Yutu in Chinese, suffered a serious mechanical problem in January and "has been unable to function since then", the report said.

However, China's Global Times newspaper later said the rover "showed signs of awakening on Wednesday".

It added that data about the rover's "current condition and repair progress is still being collected and analysed", and an official update was expected "in the coming days".

The Jade Rabbit's deployment on 15 December was the first successful landing on the Moon since 1976.

It was expected to operate for about three months.

Social media debate
The malfunction in late January emerged before the rover entered its scheduled dormancy period, Xinhua news agency reported at the time.

The rover was due to become dormant for 14 days during the lunar night, when there would be no sunlight to power the rover's solar panel, reports said.

If confirmed, the latest suggestion of the demise of the robot will be seen as a major blow to China's ambitious space programme.

The announcement has also generated extensive discussion on Chinese social media.

BBC

Major blow indeed, many people had high hopes for this rover, it's sad to see it's demise

With it being the first rover to operate there since the Soviet Lunokhod 2, I honestly expected a lot more from this machine too.
I wonder if this will stall their plans for a lunar base, which they said would be done in 15 years time?

reply to post by skyblueworld


Ah, made in China..


Opportunity just had its ten year anniversary.
On Mars.
SNIP

reply to post by skyblueworld


Maybe it is just playing dead until the coast is clear then it is going to make a break for it....

It's not dead, it sent a signal today.
However, it might not be as functional as before.

DupontDeux
reply to post by skyblueworld

 

Ah, made in China..


Opportunity just had its ten year anniversary.
On Mars.

Take that, commie bast..citizens of the People's Republic of China!

edit on 12-2-2014 by DupontDeux because: (no reason given)

This is the most disgusting thing I've read here in a while.
Let me ask how old are you?
Do you realize how many of your fellow citizens died in order to achieve space flight???

Star Wars: It has begun... I mean, Bummer. Better luck next time China. It was great while it lasted.


Not bad, Not bad at all for your first attempt

reply to post by skyblueworld


You mean the rabbit died?
Sorry I couldn't resist.

zilebeliveunknown

DupontDeux
reply to post by skyblueworld

 

Ah, made in China..


Opportunity just had its ten year anniversary.
On Mars.

Take that, commie bast..citizens of the People's Republic of China!

edit on 12-2-2014 by DupontDeux because: (no reason given)

This is the most disgusting thing I've read here in a while.
Let me ask how old are you?
Do you realize how many of your fellow citizens died in order to achieve space flight???

edit on 12-2-2014 by zilebeliveunknown because: (no reason given)

I guess that went over your head.. My bad, probably, English is not my first language and I do not always get my point across - especially when using sarcasm or irony.

I'm pointing out that the Mars rover - with more than a decade old tech - STILL works .. while sarcastically using the two most tired and derogative cold war anti communist cliches known to anyone growing up (or alive, really) in the seventies and eighties - The irony being a) that pretty much ALL tech - including plenty on board Opportunity is made in "china"- and b) that America today so rarely has cause for celebration in the tech department, that it would be pretty silly to cry "haha, made in china" at all.

Oh well.. I thought I was just being clever.

But, even if you did not get it - how was it disgusting, and what has the deaths of "my fellow citizens in order to achieve spaceflight" anything at all to do with this..?

There are three possibilities in my conspiracy mind.
1) the aliens who live in that area did not like an invader coming from Earth and have started to 'disable' it. Rather like what happened to Spirit and Phoenix on Mars, which were dismantled and is why we dont have recent photos of them from space after all this time.

2) the lunar US satellites have lasers on board and were practicing shooting at rabbits. It is a bit of a snub to have your rivals taking over the space race to the Moon and I guess the USA wants the pick of the mineral deposits. They dont want others finding out more about the lunar surface details and possibly publishing incriminating evidence of cover-ups. The point is that NASA could not control or have any influence in the Chinese lunar rover, so they could not demand any 'favours' from China. (such as hiding certain things from the public) So, what is the next best thing? Make sure that the item is put out of action as soon as possible in a way that is not tracable to you. No-one knows what military equipment is unofficially on those US lunar satellites and it makes sense to have a military capability if the aliens "start to act up".

3) it just had a glitch and something fried which is possible, but not as likely as the options 1 & 2.

We have to remember that the Indian lunar spacecraft suddenly went AWOL and although these things happen, there were certain "instruments" on board which were supplied by NASA. It is not beyond the realms of possibility that the US sent a signal to the spacecraft to selfdestruct the NASA-supplied experiment. We have still not received the over 40,000 (and nearer 80,000) images the Indian spacecraft took on its mission to the Moon. Can't think why not, can you?

China Space says "Official news: Yutu is still alive. Mission control is busy working on it. Please give them more time."

Yutu is sending a strong signal: twitter.com...
pjm.uhf-satcom.com...

While it might have sustained some "injuries" and certain functions might not be functional, it's not dead yet.

reply to post by skyblueworld


You have to wonder why the U.S. hasn't sent a rover to the moon. Heck they've sent enough of them to Mars. The moon is just a hop skip and a jump compared to the distance for Mars. Just because we've been to the moon, doesn't mean we've thoroughly explored it.

Than you have to wonder did China's rover really break down or have they've discovered the same thing that caused the Apollo missions to stop abruptly. (No, I don't believe we stopped going to the moon because of the cost. Since when does our government stop spending money on research that could benefit them militarily?) The cost now would be much cheaper than sending rovers to Mars.

WeRpeons
reply to post by skyblueworld

 

You have to wonder why the U.S. hasn't sent a rover to the moon. Heck they've sent enough of them to Mars. The moon is just a hop skip and a jump compared to the distance for Mars. Just because we've been to the moon, doesn't mean we've thoroughly explored it.

Than you have to wonder did China's rover really break down or have they've discovered the same thing that caused the Apollo missions to stop abruptly. (No, I don't believe we stopped going to the moon because of the cost. Since when does our government stop spending money on research that could benefit them militarily?) The cost now would be much cheaper than sending rovers to Mars.

Apollo missions didn't stop abruptly. 20 missions were planned in total. About the time of the first landing in 1969, it was decided to use an existing Saturn V to launch the Skylab orbital laboratory pre-built on the ground, replacing the original plan to construct it in orbit from several Saturn IB launches; this eliminated Apollo 20. NASA's yearly budget also began to shrink in light of the successful landing, and NASA also had to make funds available for the development of the upcoming Space Shuttle. By 1971 (when Apollo 15 flew), the decision was made to also cancel missions 18 and 19. en.wikipedia.org...

WeRpeons
reply to post by skyblueworld

 

You have to wonder why the U.S. hasn't sent a rover to the moon. Heck they've sent enough of them to Mars. The moon is just a hop skip and a jump compared to the distance for Mars. Just because we've been to the moon, doesn't mean we've thoroughly explored it.

I do not know for sure, but I would not think it that much more expensive to send a rover to Mars than to the Moon, and with limited resources one has to choose. I would really like to see more exploration on the Moon, sure, but on the other hand I would not like to see any less exploration of Mars.

And between the two Mars get the vote from me - if only because it is so eerily Earth-like!

reply to post by DupontDeux


In todays world of "Technically advanced people" .......Geeks like us. It would be hard to fool us with tales of humans landing on the moon if they went today that is.

What I'm trying to elude to is, If they sent a rover to the moon today and then another one, it would only be a matter of time before the public demanded a human visitation.

With Mars, they can string it out a bit longer due to the distance and technology required to get and stay there....let alone return.

So they avoid the moon like the plague because A: they never set foot on it in the first place, and, B: They can't actually set foot on it today.

Keeeerrrpow!

DupontDeux

zilebeliveunknown

DupontDeux
reply to post by skyblueworld

 

Ah, made in China..


Opportunity just had its ten year anniversary.
On Mars.

Take that, commie bast..citizens of the People's Republic of China!

edit on 12-2-2014 by DupontDeux because: (no reason given)

This is the most disgusting thing I've read here in a while.
Let me ask how old are you?
Do you realize how many of your fellow citizens died in order to achieve space flight???

edit on 12-2-2014 by zilebeliveunknown because: (no reason given)

I guess that went over your head.. My bad, probably, English is not my first language and I do not always get my point across - especially when using sarcasm or irony.

I'm pointing out that the Mars rover - with more than a decade old tech - STILL works .. while sarcastically using the two most tired and derogative cold war anti communist cliches known to anyone growing up (or alive, really) in the seventies and eighties - The irony being a) that pretty much ALL tech - including plenty on board Opportunity is made in "china"- and b) that America today so rarely has cause for celebration in the tech department, that it would be pretty silly to cry "haha, made in china" at all.

Oh well.. I thought I was just being clever.

But, even if you did not get it - how was it disgusting, and what has the deaths of "my fellow citizens in order to achieve spaceflight" anything at all to do with this..?

edit on 12-2-2014 by DupontDeux because: (no reason given)

I got your post just fine. No clue what the other member was complaining about.

reply to post by CaptainBeno


And what will you say when we put people on Mars? More lies? THIS is a disgusting post.

Apollo missions didn't stop abruptly. 20 missions were planned in total. About the time of the first landing in 1969, it was decided to use an existing Saturn V to launch the Skylab orbital laboratory pre-built on the ground, replacing the original plan to construct it in orbit from several Saturn IB launches; this eliminated Apollo 20. NASA's yearly budget also began to shrink in light of the successful landing, and NASA also had to make funds available for the development of the upcoming Space Shuttle. By 1971 (when Apollo 15 flew), the decision was made to also cancel missions 18 and 19. en.wikipedia.org...

So I'm sure they would have found money in their budget later to send a rover to the moon. Come on, I grew up watching the Apollo moon landings, to totally ignore exploring the moon because of budget constraints doesn't sound like something our military or NASA wouldn't want to stop. I'm not a scientist, but even I can understand the benefits of having an outpost on the moon for research. They could have even stationed unmanned moon probes to explore the surface of the moon and its craters. The could have sent unmanned telescopes on the surface to observe any approaching space meteors and also have it directed out toward the cosmos. They haven't even tried to mine portions of the moon to find any resources that would be beneficial here on earth.

Yet they have enough money in their budget to launch rovers to Mars, which I'm sure costs a heck of a lot more money than launching a rover to the moon.

skyblueworld
Major blow indeed, many people had high hopes for this rover, it's sad to see it's demise

They did all the hardest stuff, getting there and landing, and deploying a working machine. Even if it died, I still consider it somewhat of a success and a learning experience, but apparently it's not completely dead. I'm not expecting a lot from it now though but who knows, we may get a pleasant surprise and see it do something useful.

DupontDeux
reply to post by skyblueworld

 

Ah, made in China..


Opportunity just had its ten year anniversary.
On Mars.

Take that, commie bast..citizens of the People's Republic of China!

edit on 12-2-2014 by DupontDeux because: (no reason given)

What is this? 1950?

You do know most of what you buy is "Made in China" or uses parts "Made in China". And considering how well their economy is doing, those "commies" are doing pretty well.

Also the moon is a much harsher place for equipment than Mars, believe it or not.

A US rover would not last 10 years on the moon. And had it been built to be as small and light as the Chinese one, it wouldn't have lasted much longer either.

WeRpeons

Yet they have enough money in their budget to launch rovers to Mars, which I'm sure costs a heck of a lot more money than launching a rover to the moon.

A rover lasts much longer on Mars due to environmental factors.

Bang for the buck. What's the point of another rover to the moon? We're looking for life and resources to "live off of the land" on Mars.