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APOD: Yutu Rover Rolls onto the Moon (2013 Dec 16)
Posted: Mon Dec 16, 2013 5:06 am
by APOD Robot
Yutu Rover Rolls onto the Moon
Explanation: A new desk-sized rover has begun exploring the Moon. Launched two weeks ago by the
Chinese National Space Administration, the
Chang'e 3 spacecraft
landed on the Moon yesterday and
deployed the robotic rover. Yutu, named for a folklore lunar
Jade Rabbit, has a scheduled three-month mission to explore several kilometers inside the
Sinus Iridum (Latin for "Bay of Rainbows") impact crater. Yutu's cameras and spectrometers will investigate surface features and composition while
ground penetrating radar will investigate deep soil structure.
Chang'e 3 achieved the first soft Moon landing since the Soviet Union's
Luna 24 in 1976, and Yutu is the first lunar rover deployed since the USSR's
Lunokhod 2 in 1973.
Pictured above, Yutu was
imaged from its
lander yesterday soon after rolling onto the Moon.
[/b]
Re: APOD: Yutu Rover Rolls onto the Moon (2013 Dec 16)
Posted: Mon Dec 16, 2013 5:33 am
by DBeaulne
Gee, the scenery looks like the same background from Apollo....
Could the Apollo truthers be wrong?
Re: APOD: Yutu Rover Rolls onto the Moon (2013 Dec 16)
Posted: Mon Dec 16, 2013 6:14 am
by Ann
Re: APOD: Yutu Rover Rolls onto the Moon (2013 Dec 16)
Posted: Mon Dec 16, 2013 6:27 am
by Nitpicker
The somewhat clearer photo in the second last link in the caption (namely "imaged") ...
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/china ... 970111.htm
appears to show that the lander is very close to a steep looking slope and depression. Could it be that the programmer(s) engaged to write the algorithm to select the best landing site in real time, perhaps got a bit lucky?
Re: APOD: Yutu Rover Rolls onto the Moon (2013 Dec 16)
Posted: Mon Dec 16, 2013 7:47 am
by Boomer12k
Awwwwwee.....isn't that cuuuuute!!!
Well, it is quite an achievement. I hope that have good results with it...all Politics aside...
However...WE need to get back into the swing of things....
:---[===] *
Re: APOD: Yutu Rover Rolls onto the Moon (2013 Dec 16)
Posted: Mon Dec 16, 2013 9:29 am
by metamorphmuses
Congratulations to the Chinese. Anytime any country reaches a spaceflight and exploration milestone such as this one, I celebrate. These achievements are for all of us, not any one nation, in the end.
I hope we'll be getting better imaging soon.
I also hope that China is working up to joining the other nations that have been cooperating to advance spaceflight and exploration. Their contribution would surely help humanity progress.
One first step.
Posted: Mon Dec 16, 2013 10:01 am
by neufer
Re: APOD: Yutu Rover Rolls onto the Moon (2013 Dec 16)
Posted: Mon Dec 16, 2013 10:04 am
by Nitpicker
I suppose when impressive space exploration achievements are made, it is easier for citizens of non-space-faring nations, like mine, to celebrate humanity over nationality and avoid the "us and them" mental framework. I like to imagine the dolphins of the world are also quietly enjoying an extra pilchard or two this week, as news filters down to them about the exploits of Chang'e 3 and Yutu. (The chimps are probably happy to have been left alone for this mission, too.)
Congratulations to all involved.
Re: APOD: Yutu Rover Rolls onto the Moon (2013 Dec 16)
Posted: Mon Dec 16, 2013 10:06 am
by MargaritaMc
Re: APOD: Yutu Rover Rolls onto the Moon (2013 Dec 16)
Posted: Mon Dec 16, 2013 1:15 pm
by biddie67
Boomer12k wrote:
...........
Well, it is quite an achievement. I hope that have good results with it...all Politics aside...
However...WE need to get back into the swing of things....
:---[===] *
Yes, all politics aside, I'm glad to see that there is a rover on the moon. I just wish that we (i.e., our country) could have participated.
Now it's 2 "outs" for us ~~ the ISS transportation and more moon exploration. Come on folks, let's get going!!!
Re: APOD: Yutu Rover Rolls onto the Moon (2013 Dec 16)
Posted: Mon Dec 16, 2013 2:47 pm
by Guest
DBeaulne wrote:Gee, the scenery looks like the same background from Apollo....
Could the Apollo truthers be wrong?
And if you look to the right of the rovers track, it is clear that the set designers didn't do a very good job of obscuring their footprints either.
Re: APOD: Yutu Rover Rolls onto the Moon (2013 Dec 16)
Posted: Mon Dec 16, 2013 2:56 pm
by geckzilla
I'm citing
Poe's Law. It's time to stop joking about moon landing hoaxing.
Re: APOD: Yutu Rover Rolls onto the Moon (2013 Dec 16)
Posted: Mon Dec 16, 2013 2:57 pm
by Tszabeau
Is that, actually, the curvature of the Moon or a result of a wide-angle lens?
Re: APOD: Yutu Rover Rolls onto the Moon (2013 Dec 16)
Posted: Mon Dec 16, 2013 3:01 pm
by Chris Peterson
Tszabeau wrote:Is that, actually, the curvature of the Moon or a result of a wide-angle lens?
Some combination of the optics and the local landscape. The Moon is far too large to show any curvature for an observer at the surface.
Re: APOD: Yutu Rover Rolls onto the Moon (2013 Dec 16)
Posted: Mon Dec 16, 2013 3:27 pm
by neufer
"Without a winking smiley or other blatant display of humor,
it is utterly impossible to parody a Creationist in such a way
that someone won't mistake for the genuine article."
- Does a smiling avatar count
Re: APOD: Yutu Rover Rolls onto the Moon (2013 Dec 16)
Posted: Mon Dec 16, 2013 3:31 pm
by geckzilla
In the case of a goofy grinning avatar, the challenge is to figure out when the individual is being serious.
Re: APOD: Yutu Rover Rolls onto the Moon (2013 Dec 16)
Posted: Mon Dec 16, 2013 6:52 pm
by eltodesukane
This is the 1st landing on the Moon since 1976 (Luna-24).
Quite a shame really that it took so long to go back.
Re: APOD: Yutu Rover Rolls onto the Moon (2013 Dec 16)
Posted: Mon Dec 16, 2013 7:34 pm
by Anthony Barreiro
metamorphmuses wrote:Congratulations to the Chinese. Anytime any country reaches a spaceflight and exploration milestone such as this one, I celebrate. These achievements are for all of us, not any one nation, in the end.
I hope we'll be getting better imaging soon.
I also hope that China is working up to joining the other nations that have been cooperating to advance spaceflight and exploration. Their contribution would surely help humanity progress.
According to the wikipedia article on the
International Space Station Program, an intergovernmental agreement among NASA (USA), Roskosmos (Russia), ESA (European Union), JAXA (Japan), and CSA (Canada), China has expressed interest in joining the International Space Station but the US has objected.
It seems that space programs at first are a source of national pride, then they become commercial enterprises. Hopefully we'll get to the point where all humanity is collaborating on space exploration. It may take a while longer to figure out joint missions with the dolphins.
Re: APOD: Yutu Rover Rolls onto the Moon (2013 Dec 16)
Posted: Mon Dec 16, 2013 10:26 pm
by magenrod
What is all that on the ground which appears to be debris ,trash, or something else ??
Re: APOD: Yutu Rover Rolls onto the Moon (2013 Dec 16)
Posted: Mon Dec 16, 2013 11:23 pm
by FelicityFinklebottom
Can anyone check the route of the photo's transmission once it landed on earth? Seems like someone blurred the photo to make Chinese technology look bad.
Re: APOD: Yutu Rover Rolls onto the Moon (2013 Dec 16)
Posted: Mon Dec 16, 2013 11:23 pm
by FelicityFinklebottom
Can anyone check the route of the photo's transmission once it landed on earth? Seems like someone blurred the photo to make Chinese technology look bad.
Re: APOD: Yutu Rover Rolls onto the Moon (2013 Dec 16)
Posted: Tue Dec 17, 2013 12:45 am
by Nitpicker
FelicityFinklebottom wrote:Can anyone check the route of the photo's transmission once it landed on earth? Seems like someone blurred the photo to make Chinese technology look bad.
It looks kinda like the result of a video camera filming a projection onto a screen, or something like that. I recall (vaguely from some documentary) that a similar thing happened with the live images broadcast of the Apollo 11 landing. Possibly a last minute technical glitch or some overlooked technical incompatibility.
Re: APOD: Yutu Rover Rolls onto the Moon (2013 Dec 16)
Posted: Tue Dec 17, 2013 12:55 am
by Anthony Barreiro
magenrod wrote:What is all that on the ground which appears to be debris ,trash, or something else ??
The area where this spacecraft landed, Sinus Iridum, is an ancient lava flow.
Over billions of years the lava has deteriorated into fine dust -- without liquid water or an atmosphere, erosion happens much more slowly on the Moon than here on Earth, but charged particles and radiation from the Sun will eventually break down rock. We can see a small crater in the upper right hand corner of today's picture. The impacts of asteroids and meteoroids that caused this and other craters kicked up rocks that fell back to the surface of the Moon at varying distances from the original impacts. So I would guess that most of the debris we see in this photo are ejecta from crater impacts.
Or they could be hamburger wrappers carelessly dropped by the stagehands who built the set on which this scene was filmed.
Re: APOD: Yutu Rover Rolls onto the Moon (2013 Dec 16)
Posted: Tue Dec 17, 2013 1:14 am
by Nitpicker
Anthony Barreiro wrote:The area where this spacecraft landed, Sinus Iridum, is an ancient lava flow.
Interesting ... I just noticed that Wikipedia now says this:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chang'e_3
Topographic data from the Chang'e 1 and 2 orbiters were used to select a landing site for Chang'e 3. The planned landing site was announced to be Sinus Iridium [sic], however, the lander descended on Mare Imbrium, about 40 km south of the 6 km diameter Laplace F crater, at 44.1260°N 19.5014°W on 14 December 2013.
(This puts the landing site about midway between Montes Recti and the 20km diameter crater Le Verrier.)
Re: APOD: Yutu Rover Rolls onto the Moon (2013 Dec 16)
Posted: Tue Dec 17, 2013 1:39 am
by Nitpicker
- Taken from my back yard in poor seeing conditions, about a minute before reported landing time
