At the end of last month, we brought you word that the first lunar rover from China, known as Yutu, which can be translated to Jade Rabbit, has already run into a mechanical control abnormality which could signal its “death” in a matter of a month. Apparently, it has frozen itself to “death” on the moon, at least according to China’s ECNS news. Basically, there is no more hope to restore any form of communication with Jade Rabbit, and as the temperatures on the moon’s surface plunge, the rover’s mast which was designed to fold down in order to protect its delicate instruments within, malfunctions.
Yutu’s lunar adventure was meant to last for a quarter from December 14 last year onward, thanks to a successful landing by China’s Chang’e-3 moon lander, which deployed Jade Rabbit afterwards. Well, there is a silver lining behind this particularly dark cloud, as the Chang’e-3 moon lander is already up and operational after being awakened from its sleep on the moon, but we do wonder what its mission will be considering how Jade Rabbit has already given up the ghost. Surely it will not come across any kind of extra terrestrial lifeform like say, a being from the sci-fi Transformers?
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