China. "Jasper rabbit" drove on the lunar surface - Gazeta Wyborcza

Sze?cioko?owy vehicle pulled to the surface of the moon at a special ramp abandoned by the lander to the volcanic plain of Sinus Iridium (Rainbow Bay) in the northern hemisphere. It is part of one of the “seas” moon – Mare Imbrium.

Probe before softly landed in this place, using the retros. It was the first soft landing on the moon more than 37 years, ie since August 1976 when the maneuver performed Soviet Luna 24

In this way, China became the third country in the world, after the former USSR and the USA, which research has placed its lander on the moon. Experts point out that the mission of Chang’e-3 is the only stage in the Chinese space program because China intends to be the first Asian country to send a man to the moon, probably after 2025.

lander probe is to operate for a year and “Jasper rabbit” for about three months. Jeep is designed to overcome difficult obstacles. Its name comes from Chinese mythology, according to which “the jade rabbit ‘live on the lunar surface and is a companion to the Chinese goddess of the Moon Chang’e.

According to Xinhua, the test program is very rich. The vehicle is equipped, among others. the two panoramic cameras (except cameras serving for navigation) spectrometers to analyze the chemical composition of rocks and soil and radar to study the geological structure of the lunar crust to a depth of several hundred meters.

The lander is a telescope for astronomical observations and camera recording ultraviolet radiation. One of the objectives of the mission is, according to Chinese scientists, exploration of valuable minerals, which in future could be obtained in an industrial way.

Chinese sources report that “Jasper Rabbit” can overcome the slopes with a slope of 30 degrees and overcome per hour to 200 meters. Both the lander and the vehicle are powered by solar panels, but according to some sources, Maje are also radioactive batteries containing plutonium-238, whose mission is to help power during very cold lunar night.

Sunday lander and “Jasper Rabbit” to photograph each other and send pictures back to Earth.

The next stage of China’s space program provides for delivery to Earth samples of lunar soil and rock in 2017 and later the robot missions, which will be the culmination of a manned mission.