China's Jade Rabbit moon rover has 'abnormality'

This screen grab, taken from a CCTV footage, shows a photo of the Jade Rabbit moon rover, taken by the Chang'e-3 probe lander on December 15, 2013

China's Jade Rabbit moon rover has experienced a "mechanical control abnormality", state media said on Saturday, in what appears to be a setback for a landmark mission in the country's ambitious space programme.

The abnormality occurred due to "the complicated lunar surface environment," the official Xinhua news agency said, citing the State Administration of Science, Technology and Industry for National Defence (SASTIND).

Scientists were "organising an overhaul", the report added, without giving further details.

There were no reports of the abnormality on SASTIND's website.

The Jade Rabbit, or Yutu in Chinese, was deployed on the moon's surface on December 15, several hours after the Chang'e-3 probe landed.

The mission is a huge source of pride in China, the third country to successfully send a lunar rover to the moon, after the United States and the former Soviet Union.

The landing was the first of its kind since the former Soviet Union's mission nearly four decades ago.

Explore further:China moon rover enters lunar orbit

© 2014 AFP

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User comments : 13

Adjust slider to filter visible comments by rank

Display comments: newest first

2.3 / 5 (3)11 hours ago

A crushing defeat as Opportunity just made 10 years on Mars.

5 / 5 (6)11 hours ago

Will you leave your ultra-nationalism on Earth for cyring out loud?

1 / 5 (1)11 hours ago

Will you leave your ultra-nationalism on Earth for cyring out loud?

Say as far as those lessons go aa, maybe you need some more? Americans have forced you to get rid of those silly umlauts and B-shaped esses. Soon you'll be discarding all the extra letters which resulted. And soon after that you will see the futility of all those gender-based articles and get rid of them as well.

Thanks to the US your medieval language will finally be functional and you won't have to talk so fast any more to convey ideas at comparable speeds. Echt?

Re the little rabbit rover maybe they should have asked us for a design review?

5 / 5 (2)11 hours ago

My concern is that lunar dust is very abrasive and that it may have gotten in to places where it did some damage. I hope that the Chinese engineers can think of some work-around and that we can all learn from this.

5 / 5 (2)10 hours ago

It must pain you to be forced to use English with American idioms in order to communicate in an international forum.

Language is like a toolbox: use the tool that works. Each language has its advantages (german can express some things more concise than english and vice versa)

Americans have forced you to get rid of those silly umlauts and B-shaped esses.

Knowing several languages is always a good thing. It broadens the mind, as a language also is an expression of a certain mindset. being able to compare/contrast mindsets is a good way to learn tolerance. So I'd encourage anyone to learn at least two languages to native speaker level.

5 / 5 (1)9 hours ago

I too have an 'ess-set' in my ancestral name, but that is beside the point. The point is, we are ALL human, and the Jade Rabbit is ours as well as China's for it is the creation of our species. And it is doing valuable work to further the knowledge of man. ALL men. I would guess the moon dust has something to do with it. China will learn from this experience, and probably share this with us so that other moon rovers and later crew transport vehicles when we colonize the place to mine Helium-3 will not have the same problems. I feel the Jade Rabbit's design might have incorporated some means to deal with dust or whatever is affecting it, so let us watch and see how it is fixed, and learn.

5 / 5 (3)8 hours ago

All I can see here that chest-thumping monkey instincts are still going strong and give no signs of abating. Bloody hell! you are not on trees anymore. Homo Sapiens my arse!

5 / 5 (1)8 hours ago

For those rejoicing because it's China's failure, how many missions has YOUR country launched, and how many worked perfectly?

3 / 5 (2)7 hours ago

Another one bites the dust! I see a sticker on it "Made in China" :)

5 / 5 (1)4 hours ago

A bit of cheek here, but I'm guessing the rover driver rolled it into a crater, so the rover is lying on its back!!! (lol). The moons low gravity and undulating surface is a mine field for rover flipping!!

3 / 5 (2)3 hours ago

Chinese Space Agency could take a lesson from NASA here. The Curiosity rover has 17 cameras. There are four hazard avoidance cameras (Hazcams) in front and four in back, to image real estate around the wheels. They are there for the sole purpose of keeping the rover from accidentally backing into a pothole and getting stuck there. Then there are the navigation cameras, used while roving. The one that takes the color images of interesting Martian landscapes is located on a mast, so it can look around, therefore it is called the Mastcam. It's the one that takes the important pictures, although I have a collection of interesting UFO images taken by Hazcams and Navcams. It appears that if you stand (or have a seat) on the Martian surface, and look up into the sky long enough, you'll eventually see a UFO whizzing by in the Martian sky. Especially in the evening. Either some Igigi, or Alalu's exiles. Probably both.

not rated yet3 hours ago

I am hoping the quality control on Chinese weapons is even worse.

not rated yet31 minutes ago

Chinese Space Agency could take a lesson from NASA here. The Curiosity rover has 17 cameras. There are four hazard avoidance cameras (Hazcams) in front and four in back, to image real estate around the wheels. They are there for the sole purpose of keeping the rover from accidentally backing into a pothole and getting stuck there. Then there are the navigation cameras, used while roving. The one that takes the color images of interesting Martian landscapes is located on a mast, so it can look around, therefore it is called the Mastcam. It's the one that takes the important pictures, although I have a collection of interesting UFO images taken by Hazcams and Navcams.

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© Phys.org™ 2003-2013, Science X network

This screen grab, taken from a CCTV footage, shows a photo of the Jade Rabbit moon rover, taken by the Chang'e-3 probe lander on December 15, 2013

China's Jade Rabbit moon rover has experienced a "mechanical control abnormality", state media said on Saturday, in what appears to be a setback for a landmark mission in the country's ambitious space programme.

The abnormality occurred due to "the complicated lunar surface environment," the official Xinhua news agency said, citing the State Administration of Science, Technology and Industry for National Defence (SASTIND).

Scientists were "organising an overhaul", the report added, without giving further details.

There were no reports of the abnormality on SASTIND's website.

The Jade Rabbit, or Yutu in Chinese, was deployed on the moon's surface on December 15, several hours after the Chang'e-3 probe landed.

The mission is a huge source of pride in China, the third country to successfully send a lunar rover to the moon, after the United States and the former Soviet Union.

The landing was the first of its kind since the former Soviet Union's mission nearly four decades ago.

Explore further:China moon rover enters lunar orbit

© 2014 AFP

More from Physics Forums - General Astronomy

Related Stories

China moon rover enters lunar orbit

Dec 06, 2013

China's first lunar rover entered the moon's orbit on Friday, state media reported, a key step towards the vessel's planned landing later this month.

China's first lunar rover to land on moon Saturday

Dec 13, 2013

A space module carrying China's first lunar rover is scheduled to land on the moon Saturday, authorities said Friday, describing the manouevre as the mission's greatest challenge.

China's flag-bearing rover photographed on moon

Dec 16, 2013

China hailed its lunar probe mission a success after the country's first moon rover and the landing vehicle that carried it there took photos of each other on the surface, state media reported.

China to send 'jade rabbit' to Moon: state media

Nov 26, 2013

China will launch its first ever moon rover early next month, state media said Tuesday, with the vehicle named "Jade Rabbit" in a nod to Chinese folklore.

China's moon rover leaves traces on lunar soil

Dec 15, 2013

China's first moon rover has touched the lunar surface and left deep traces on its loose soil, state media reported Sunday, several hours after the country successfully carried out the world's first soft ...

China successfully soft-lands probe on the moon

Dec 14, 2013

China on Saturday successfully carried out the world's first soft landing of a space probe on the moon in nearly four decades, state media said, the next stage in an ambitious space program that aims to eventually ...

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Jan 24, 2014

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Jan 24, 2014

After a decade of roving relentlessly on the Red Planet, NASA's Opportunity rover discovered rocks that preserve the best evidence yet that ancient Mars was the most conducive time period for the formation ...

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Jan 24, 2014

In July, Rosetta is expected to send the first images of comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko's nucleus, as seen from a large distance. The space probe will enter an orbit around the comet nucleus in August, where ...

User comments : 13

Adjust slider to filter visible comments by rank

Display comments: newest first

2.3 / 5 (3)11 hours ago

A crushing defeat as Opportunity just made 10 years on Mars.

5 / 5 (6)11 hours ago

Will you leave your ultra-nationalism on Earth for cyring out loud?

1 / 5 (1)11 hours ago

Will you leave your ultra-nationalism on Earth for cyring out loud?

It must pain you to be forced to use English with American idioms in order to communicate in an international forum.

Say as far as those lessons go aa, maybe you need some more? Americans have forced you to get rid of those silly umlauts and B-shaped esses. Soon you'll be discarding all the extra letters which resulted. And soon after that you will see the futility of all those gender-based articles and get rid of them as well.

Thanks to the US your medieval language will finally be functional and you won't have to talk so fast any more to convey ideas at comparable speeds. Echt?

Re the little rabbit rover maybe they should have asked us for a design review?

5 / 5 (2)11 hours ago

I hate seeing endeavors such as this get in trouble.

My concern is that lunar dust is very abrasive and that it may have gotten in to places where it did some damage. I hope that the Chinese engineers can think of some work-around and that we can all learn from this.

5 / 5 (2)10 hours ago

It must pain you to be forced to use English with American idioms in order to communicate in an international forum.

Why should it pain me? I speak/write american as well as I speak/write german...so it doesn't bother me to use either language.

Language is like a toolbox: use the tool that works. Each language has its advantages (german can express some things more concise than english and vice versa)

Americans have forced you to get rid of those silly umlauts and B-shaped esses.

The funny thing is: I actually have one of those ßs in my name - which is pretty cool, because that way, in international contexts, people have no problem remembering my name.

Knowing several languages is always a good thing. It broadens the mind, as a language also is an expression of a certain mindset. being able to compare/contrast mindsets is a good way to learn tolerance. So I'd encourage anyone to learn at least two languages to native speaker level.

5 / 5 (1)9 hours ago

I too have an 'ess-set' in my ancestral name, but that is beside the point. The point is, we are ALL human, and the Jade Rabbit is ours as well as China's for it is the creation of our species. And it is doing valuable work to further the knowledge of man. ALL men. I would guess the moon dust has something to do with it. China will learn from this experience, and probably share this with us so that other moon rovers and later crew transport vehicles when we colonize the place to mine Helium-3 will not have the same problems. I feel the Jade Rabbit's design might have incorporated some means to deal with dust or whatever is affecting it, so let us watch and see how it is fixed, and learn.

5 / 5 (3)8 hours ago

All I can see here that chest-thumping monkey instincts are still going strong and give no signs of abating. Bloody hell! you are not on trees anymore. Homo Sapiens my arse!

5 / 5 (1)8 hours ago

Osiris1: I agree that this setback could be as important as any scientific discovery. If it is something in the Lunar environment, and they can determine what, it could save a manned mission a lot of trouble. on the other hand, if it's a simple design or manufacturing flaw, they can fix it on the next rover.

For those rejoicing because it's China's failure, how many missions has YOUR country launched, and how many worked perfectly?

3 / 5 (2)7 hours ago

Another one bites the dust! I see a sticker on it "Made in China" :)

5 / 5 (1)4 hours ago

This is a shame. However, success usually follows a list of failures, especially when it comes to space endeavours. I also can understand Antialias comments, as every article seems to have to beat the chinese pride drum, but I guess they ARE proud, and maybe they should be too!!!

A bit of cheek here, but I'm guessing the rover driver rolled it into a crater, so the rover is lying on its back!!! (lol). The moons low gravity and undulating surface is a mine field for rover flipping!!

3 / 5 (2)3 hours ago

Chinese Space Agency could take a lesson from NASA here. The Curiosity rover has 17 cameras. There are four hazard avoidance cameras (Hazcams) in front and four in back, to image real estate around the wheels. They are there for the sole purpose of keeping the rover from accidentally backing into a pothole and getting stuck there. Then there are the navigation cameras, used while roving. The one that takes the color images of interesting Martian landscapes is located on a mast, so it can look around, therefore it is called the Mastcam. It's the one that takes the important pictures, although I have a collection of interesting UFO images taken by Hazcams and Navcams. It appears that if you stand (or have a seat) on the Martian surface, and look up into the sky long enough, you'll eventually see a UFO whizzing by in the Martian sky. Especially in the evening. Either some Igigi, or Alalu's exiles. Probably both.

not rated yet3 hours ago

I am hoping the quality control on Chinese weapons is even worse.

not rated yet31 minutes ago

Chinese Space Agency could take a lesson from NASA here. The Curiosity rover has 17 cameras. There are four hazard avoidance cameras (Hazcams) in front and four in back, to image real estate around the wheels. They are there for the sole purpose of keeping the rover from accidentally backing into a pothole and getting stuck there. Then there are the navigation cameras, used while roving. The one that takes the color images of interesting Martian landscapes is located on a mast, so it can look around, therefore it is called the Mastcam. It's the one that takes the important pictures, although I have a collection of interesting UFO images taken by Hazcams and Navcams.

-But the Japanese wouldn't sell them any cameras and so they were out of luck.

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© Phys.org™ 2003-2013, Science X network