I found it quite appropriate that the referenced CBC article referred to it as a moon "buggy."<p>More seriously, I'm excited to see more countries, and more people in general, involved in space exploration.<p>I also think that instead of pointing to the rover's failure, we shout point to its success: Launching a rover to the moon and getting it to work in any way, shape, or form, is a pretty amazing triumph. Sure, the US did it several decades ago, but not all NASA missions were successful, and it's to be expected that you need a few iterations to get the bugs out.
This is a shame, but most people -- even in space programs -- don't appreciate how cold the Moon's shaded areas become. It's now estimated that these areas get to 26 Kelvins -- that's 26 degrees above absolute zero. To get a sense of how cold this is, Pluto's average surface temperature is seven degrees <i>warmer</i>.<p>Also consider that, because of the specifics of the Moon's orbit, a given area stays shaded for just over 14 days each month. That's a long time at a very low temperature. Unless a spacecraft has a way to heat itself during the long lunar night, its electronics will self-destruct.
You try, you fail, you learn. It's fantastic more countries are venturing into space exploration. Their next effort will build upon what they've learned.<p>Do countries typically share what they learn about these failures?
My biggest shock was "Why haven't I heard about this lunar rover before!?"<p>I'm not news hound, but I do spend too much time on tech sites (HN/Reddit) that would report this. I remember years ago mention of China (and India) moon missions. But, really first man mad object to land in 37 years should have been blasted over most news sources.<p>After shock... "Kick ass, we're (finally) getting back on the moon!"
Well that sucks.<p>Is anyone here a big follower of the Chinese space programme? I follow "western" space efforts pretty closely, but with heavy military involvement, a preoccupation with face-saving, and the language barrier, I find the Chinese programme nigh on impossible to track. Do they have the same sort of spending split that NASA has with respect to the manned v. unmanned programmes? Or does their unmanned programme get substantially more than a pittance? As things stand, I'm not even able to tell if they are actually serious about space outside of military use, or if it's all just a prestige play. Anyone care to fill in some detail?
Hard to say what happened from the sketchy reports, but there's been some mention of "mechanical problems" due to lunar dust, and hibernation problems. I guess they have some mechanical movement involved in hibernation mode. Pre-positioning solar arrays, maybe? Storing instruments?<p>Lunar dust is notoriously abrasive, having formed in a non-erosive setting. It's a well known problem for lunar exploration, and NASA's done a lot of work on it. Not a lot of recent practical experience, of course.<p>The Chang'e designers must have known about the problem. Apparently they underestimated it, or just missed. Hopefully there's some good lessons learned for future missions. Getting there and working for a lunar day is a pretty good job in itself.
The team is still working on it. There is hope still.<p><a href="http://gbtimes.com/opinion/jade-rabbit-still-fighting-despite-death-reports" rel="nofollow">http://gbtimes.com/opinion/jade-rabbit-still-fighting-despit...</a>
Chinese space program had come a long way. Interesting test would be how they handle this failure. Will they go assigning blame and scapegoats. Or will they learn from this mistake and improve quality control/redundancy for future missions.
Shame as well space exploration is still so primitive and infant that I root for any nation venturing out there. Too bad its clouted by military achievements.
Seems like there is hope:
<a href="http://www.planetary.org/blogs/emily-lakdawalla/2014/possible-hope-for-yutu.html" rel="nofollow">http://www.planetary.org/blogs/emily-lakdawalla/2014/possibl...</a>
Actually, it's working - not perfectly, but it's 'awake,' sending and receiving signals:<p><a href="http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/sci/2014-02/13/c_133111283.htm" rel="nofollow">http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/sci/2014-02/13/c_133111283...</a><p>Xinhua is adding new info on Twitter:<p><a href="https://twitter.com/XHNews" rel="nofollow">https://twitter.com/XHNews</a>
Does anyone know if there are images from this rover available on-line ? I'd love to see some hi rez shots of the Earth with the Moon's horizon in the shot.
FYI, according to recent news[0], The lunar rover is recovered now. Sorry that I did not find a source in English.<p>0. <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/zhongwen/simp/china/2014/02/140213_yutu_awake.shtml" rel="nofollow">http://www.bbc.co.uk/zhongwen/simp/china/2014/02/140213_yutu...</a>