'One giant leap': China's Chang'e 4 rover Jade Rabbit 2 sets off on moon mission

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/jan/04/china-change-4-moon-rover-jade-rabbit-2-sets-off

'One giant leap': China's Chang'e 4 rover Jade Rabbit 2 sets off on moon mission

Project leader echoes Neil Armstrong’s quote after rover’s successful separation from lander

Staff and agencies

Fri 4 Jan 2019 06.07 GMT Last modified on Fri 4 Jan 2019 06.09 GMT

China’s space agency has posted the first photo of its Chang’e 4 lunar rover on the far side of the moon after its groundbreaking touchdown on Thursday. The rover – named Yutu 2, or Jade Rabbit 2 – left the spacecraft, drove off a ramp and began making tracks on the moon’s surface at 10.22pm on Thursday, about 12 hours after Chang’e 4 landed.

Lunar project chief designer Wu Weiren called the separation of the rover “a small step for the rover, but one giant leap for the Chinese nation.”

China’s Chang’e 4 mission could use soil tests and temperature measurements to reveal new clues to the cataclysmic collision that created the moon and uncover the origins of the water that is unexpectedly abundant in lunar soil. The Chang’e lunar mission is named after the Chinese moon goddess.

China’s state news agency, Xinhua, said the probe took a small plant called arabidopsis which is expected to produce the first flower on the moon. Other items included in a mini-biosphere include cotton, rapeseed, potato, fruit fly and yeast.
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