In recent days the Chinese lunar rover Yutu, which means Jade Rabbit, had been given up for dead after what had been defined a mechanical abnormality announced on January 25, 2014. A part of Yutu was protected from the cold of the lunar night by the solar panels that were folded at the end of the day on the rover as protection. At the end of January this operation failed, leaving it exposed to the cold, but in the last hours it gave new signs of life.

The Chinese authorities issue only short statements so the information on the nature of the rover Yutu’s problems are limited. We know that an abnormality was detected which prevented the successful completion of the procedure for securing it for the lunar night. The Chinese engineers have attempted to fix the issue but when the Sun set Yutu remained partially exposed to the cold, with the risk of freezing.

On January 25, on a Chinese website a series of messages were posted but they were definitely not official. In those messages, Yutu announced in the first person it was having problems and that there was a risk that it couldn’t survive the lunar night. However, these messages, which someway made Yutu human, added some confusion about its situation.

On Tuesday, when the Sun rose in the Moon area where Yutu the Chinese Chang’e 3 space probe landed on December 14, 2013, the attempts to make contact with the rover started. Yesterday came the news that it wasn’t possible to restore Yutu’s functions. Many sites reported the end of Yutu’s mission but later in the day came new, more positive, information.

A Chinese official announcement, confirmed by independent sources, confirmed that the rover Yutu began to send communications to Earth. Once again, the communications from the Chinese sources are generic so the situation is unclear. Certainly, the Jade Rabbit is working at least partially and the Chinese engineers have assessed the status of its systems. If the authorities allow, they’ll provide details.

The mission of the lunar space probe Chang’e 3 and the rover Yutu is part of the ambitious Chinese space program, which includes both robotic missions and manned missions. The problems with Yutu may represent a setback in Chinese plans but we can expect nothing more than a delay in the development of future missions.

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