China is making waves and marking new space history as Jade Rabbit, China's lunar probe is set to land on its lunar destination this weekend after its almost two-week space voyage.
Its successful soft-landing on the moon will make the Chinese proud as it will be one of the only three countries that effectively launched lunar missions. Three decades before, the United States and the Soviet Union had also gained the same triumph of successful soft-landing on the moon.
The China's unmanned spacecraft Chang'e-3 was launched from Sichuan province's March 3B rocket on December 2. It gained trajectory to reach the lunar orbit around 60 miles or 100 kilometers from the moon surface in less than five days. According to the spokesperson from China's Administration of Science, Technology and Industry for National Defense, the spacecraft slowly lowered its altitude up to 15 kilometers above the moon surface on Tuesday. And by Saturday, December 14 at around 3 p.m., the Chang'e-3 will touch-down on the Bay of Rainbows or Sinus Iridum.
The 140-kilogram rover Jade Rabbit, or Yutu in Chinese, would carry out lunar observations by using its multiple cameras and telescopes. China's Information Technology Ministry said that its ultraviolet camera will allow them to observe the solar activities which ultimately impact the different layers of Earth's atmosphere, the troposphere, stratosphere and ionosphere.
Aside from this, the six-wheeled lunar rover has functional radioisotope heater units (RHU) which can support the rover's warm temperature even during the extremely cold evenings on the moon's surface which sometimes even reach negative 180 degrees Celsius or negative 292 degrees Fahrenheit.
Jade Rabbit was also designed with two mechanical limbs which are capable for digging up holes on the lunar surface and collecting soil samples from there. For three months, this highly advanced rover will roam and observe the moon's crust, soil and rocks.
Sending the Jade Rabbit aboard the Chang'e-3 is only a part of the Chinese Space Program but it is considered a milestone towards the country's aim to fully explore and exploit the moon, as well as advancing its space technology. We may soon see that China will also set up a permanent space station on Earth's orbit.
