Our moon, nicknamed “Luna,” may have been geologically active about 3.3 billion years ago, based on data gathered by China’s first moon rover, Yutu (“jade rabbit”), named after the Chinese goddess Chang’e’s pet rabbit. The evidence that may prove the complex and vigorous history of our natural satellite was published recently based on the discovery of nine different layers of rock by the Yutu rover.
The rover’s findings suggested that the makeup of the landing sites of the Luna program of the Soviet Union and NASA’s Apollo missions, when compared to that of Yutu, are very different.
Yutu rover, part of China’s Chang’e 3 mission was delivered to the lunar surface on December 14, 2013, alongside a stationary lander. A glitch last January 2014 stopped the rover’s zigzagging-pattern of almost 374 meters or 114 meters.
The rover carried three main pieces of scientific equipment: the Active Particle-Induced X-Ray Spectrometer: the Visible Near-Infrared Spectrometer and Lunar Penetrating Radar, which has the ability to probe 1300 feet (400 meters) below the lunar surface. The Yutu rover also carried 3D stereo cameras, a communications antenna, a robot arm with the spectrometers, and has six wheels configured similarly to NASA rovers, an example of which is the Mars Rover Curiosity.
The Chang’e 3 moon mission, launched by China last December 1, 2013, is the first one to achieve a soft-landing after 37 years, following the footsteps of the Luna 24 mission of 1976 set forth by the Soviet Union. This is the third time an unmanned rover has been sent to the moon, the first two being Soviet Union and the USA.
This new study was published on the Internet on March 12, in the journal Science. The study’s leading author, Long Xiao from the China University of Geosciences located at Wuhan, stated that from the evidence, two peculiar things interested him. The first is that the Yutu rover discovered pyroclastic rocks, not only basaltic rock, formed through explosive eruption on the volcanic plain, or lunar mare, of the moon. In addition, tests showed more volcanic activity than expected in the late history of the moon’s volcanism.
There are three phases of the Chinese Lunar Exploration Program, following Chang’e 1 and Chang’e 2, launched in October 24, 2007 and October 1, 2010, respectively. The three probes are all named after Chang’e, the Chinese goddess the ancient Chinese believed to be living on the moon. However, Yutu’s mission has ended after the rover met technical problems.
