Yutu-2
Chinese lunar rover / From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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Yutu-2 (Chinese: 玉兔二号; pinyin: Yùtù Èrhào) is the robotic lunar rover component of CNSA's Chang'e 4 mission to the Moon, launched on 7 December 2018 18:23 UTC, it entered lunar orbit on 12 December 2018 before making the first soft landing on the far side of the Moon on 3 January 2019. Yutu-2 is currently operational as the longest-lived lunar rover[8] and the first lunar rover traversing the far side of the Moon.
Mission type | lunar rover |
---|---|
Operator | CNSA |
Mission duration | 3 months (planned)[1] Current: 5 years, 4 months, 30 days |
Spacecraft properties | |
Launch mass | Rover: 140 kg[2] |
Landing mass | 140 kg |
Dimensions | 1.5 × 1.0 × 1.0 m[3] |
Start of mission | |
Launch date | 7 December 2018, 18:23 UTC[4] |
Rocket | Long March 3B[5] |
Launch site | Xichang Satellite Launch Center |
Lunar rover | |
Landing date | 3 January 2019, 02:26 UTC[6] |
Landing site | Von Kármán crater in the South Pole-Aitken Basin |
Distance driven | 1.596 km (0.992 mi) as of 4 May 2024[update][7] |
By January 2022, Yutu-2 had travelled a distance of more than 1,000 metres (3,300 ft) along the Moon's surface.[9][10] Data from its ground penetrating radar (GPR) has been used by scientists to put together imagery of multiple layers deep beneath the surface of the far side of the Moon.[11]