China's Yuto Rover Dead for Real This Time

China’s lunar rover Yutu has been pronounced dead—for the second and (probably) final time, this time after a bit over two-and-a-half years on the moon.

It’s unlikely that the rover is going to pop back from the dead this time, though. Jade Rabbit (which is Yuto in Chinese) was only meant to last for three months and ended up lasting 31 months. In that time, the rover was slowly losing functionality. Towards the end of the rover's life, it slowly lost the ability to even move away from its current spot. Even so, Jade Rabbit continued to beam back data to researchers

For complete Gizmoto article - click  HERE

To the Moon & Back

CNN reports that China, in the very near future, will launch a craft  to the moon and then return to Earth, landing in Mongolia, a first for China's space agency. 

Previous Luna missions included a rover called the Jade Rabbit, which was fraught with technical difficulties and was designated incapacitated. 

China has also had good success with its manned missions to low Earth orbit, sending up several individuals and teams, since 2003.  But it is the unmanned missions that will grab the headlines in the coming months.

Ultimately China is aiming at a Luna probe mission, dubbed Chang’e-4, to take place possibly in 2015. and the Chang'e-5 in 2017 that will put a rover on the surface to collect samples, then returning them to Earth.

Read the complete CNN article HERE

NASA Snaps Pic of Yuto

From 93 miles overhead, NASA's Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter's camera has captured the landing site of the Chang'e 3 lander.   Both the lander and the Yuto rover.   The remarkable thing about the photo containing the pair is the rover itself is less than 5 feet across!

 

 

If you go to the IO9 site you will see a before and after pic to make the craft easier to spot.

 

Check out the site HERE

Short Vid of the Yutu Rover Seperating From Lander

China's Yutu rover separated from it's lander platform Chang'e 3 and successfully rolled several feet away showing that the system is healthy and ready to begin exploration of the Lunar surface. 

Here is a video of the translation from lander to ground.