Remember the story of China’s Jade Rabbit that we talked about yesterday, mentioning about its demise? Well, such reports could prove to be premature despite reports from state media that the first lunar rover from China has stopped working. Also known as Yutu in Mandarin, it seems that this should be called the Jade Cat instead as it could be up and running once again, having used up one of its proverbial lives. Technical malfunctions on the Jade Rabbit resulted in lost communication with mission control, but it seems that the rover is now “fully awake”, bouncing about happily with its signal receiving status being heralded as normal.
China’s lunar program spokesman Pei Zhaoyu mentioned, “Jade Rabbit has fully resurrected and is able to receive signals, but still suffers a mechanical control abnormality. The rover entered hibernation while in an abnormal state. We were worried it wouldn’t be able to make it through the extreme cold of the lunar night. But it came back alive. The rover stands a chance of being saved as it is still alive.”
It must be noted that the Jade Rabbit had been out of action for a fortnight already, and hopefully with this latest news of its “resurrection”, it ought to be able to resume its original 3 month mission and to examine the moon’s surface for additional resources that humanity can make use of.
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