.png) Yutu-2 rover on the Moon as seen by the Chang'e 4 lander | |
| Mission type | lunar rover |
|---|---|
| Operator | CNSA |
| Mission duration | 3 months (planned)[1] Current: 5 years, 10 months, 7 days |
| Spacecraft properties | |
| Launch mass | Rover: 140 kg[2] |
| Landing mass | 140 kg |
| Dimensions | 1.5 × 1.0 × 1.0 m[3] |
| Start of mission | |
| Launch date | 7 December 2018, 18:23 UTC[4] |
| Rocket | Long March 3B[5] |
| Launch site | Xichang Satellite Launch Center |
| Lunar rover | |
| Landing date | 3 January 2019, 02:26 UTC[6] |
| Landing site | Von Kármán crater in the South Pole-Aitken Basin |
| Distance driven | 1.596 km (0.992 mi) as of 4 May 2024[update][7] |
Yutu-2 (Chinese: 玉兔二号; pinyin: Yùtù Èrhào) is the robotic lunar rover component of CNSA's Chang'e 4 mission to the Moon, launched on 7 December 2018 18:23 UTC, it entered lunar orbit on 12 December 2018 before making the first soft landing on the far side of the Moon on 3 January 2019. Yutu-2 is currently operational as the longest-lived lunar rover[8] after it eclipsed (on 20 November 2019) the previous lunar longevity record of 321 Earth days held by Soviet Union's Lunokhod 1 rover. Yutu-2 is the first lunar rover ever to have traversed the far side of the Moon. By January 2022, it had travelled a distance of more than 1,000 metres (3,300 ft) along the Moon's surface.[9][10] Data from its ground penetrating radar (GPR) has been used by scientists to put together imagery of multiple layers deep beneath the surface of the far side of the Moon.[11] As of September 2024, the Yutu-2 was still active.[12]
- ^ China says it will launch 2 robots to the far side of the moon in December on an unprecedented lunar exploration mission Archived 9 December 2018 at the Wayback Machine. Dave Mosher, Business Insider. 16 August 2018.
- ^ Chang'e 3, 4 (CE 3, 4) Archived 20 March 2018 at the Wayback Machine. Gunter Dirk Krebs, Gunter's Space Page.
- ^ This is the rover China will send to the 'dark side' of the Moon Archived 31 August 2018 at the Wayback Machine. Steven Jiang, CNN News. 16 August 2018.
- ^ "CNSA". China National Space Administration (in Chinese (China)). Archived from the original on 10 December 2018. Retrieved 8 December 2018.
- ^ Launch Schedule 2018 Archived 16 August 2018 at the Wayback Machine. SpaceflightNow, 18 September 2018.
- ^ Barbosa, Rui (3 January 2019). "China lands Chang'e-4 mission on the far side of the Moon". Nasaspacefight. Archived from the original on 3 January 2019. Retrieved 3 January 2019.
- ^ "中国探月工程立项20年 回顾"嫦娥"奔月之旅" (in Simplified Chinese). 央视新闻. 2024-05-04. Retrieved 2024-05-05.
- ^ David, Leonard (18 December 2019). "China's Farside Moon Rover Breaks Lunar Longevity Record". Space.com.
- ^ "Moon 'mystery hut' is just a rabbit-shaped rock, Chinese rover finds". Space.com. 11 January 2022. Retrieved 12 January 2022.
- ^ "China's lunar rover Yutu 2 is on a mission to investigate mystery object on far side of the moon". 2021-12-05.
- ^ Cite error: The named reference
gprwas invoked but never defined (see the help page). - ^ Jones, Andrew (2024-09-19). "China's Yutu 2 rover still going strong after nearly 6 years on the far side of the moon". Space.com. Retrieved 2024-10-20.