ESA on Yutu, as controllers wait for sunrise, February 9

Song of Yutu. China News reported panorama photographs of the Chang'e-3 lander captured by Yutu and corresponding images of the Jade Rabbit rover from the lander, prior to the end of their second 330 hour-long lunar day, January 25, were the final such complimentary photographs of the mission [CAS/CNSA/CLEP].

Professor Bernard H. Foing

Bernard Foing
Executive Director
International Lunar Exploration Working Group (ILEWG).
ESA SMART-1 Project scientist

The Chang'e3 lander and Yutu rover achieved impressive results in their first lunar day on the surface, where temperatures are over 90°C (194°F) at midday. After their first lunar night, which is extreme, with temperatures dropping to -180°C (-292°F), they spectacularly woke up and resumed operations after January 12.

This was already an achievement considering the very difficult thermal conditions and surface environment on the Moon. Already with our SMART-1 (2003) spacecraft orbiting the Moon we had to solve thermal problems, but it is much more difficult for a rover on the surface.

Unofficial information mentions a mechanical problem during the withdrawal of a solar panel on rover Yutu prior to sleep on January 25 for the second night. This could affect the electronic box and a few instruments on the rover mast.

Operations of the Chang'e-3 lander instruments would not be affected.

1. Is it likely that lunar dust caused a mechanical failure, meaning the rover could not hibernate?  It is not established that dust is the culprit at this stage. The high thermal extremes from day to night (from 90° to –180°C, or 194° to -292°F) can also certainly put a huge stress and fatigue on mechanical systems.

2. What can be done to protect future rovers from lunar dust?  Already measures are being taken by rover designers to avoid dust entering sensitive mechanical gear or depositing on optical surfaces. However lunar dust can be electrostatically charged and can stick on sensitive parts.

3. Is Yutu no longer operational, or could it be fixed?  Our Chang’e 3 and Yutu colleagues can be praised for what they have achieved so far. I am sure that they are not going to give up. They are analyzing, in depth, the problem and are working hard to assess safe recovery strategies.

4. How will this failure restrict the remaining mission?  The lander went nominally to sleep (January 25). The Yutu rover sent an emotional farewell message before hibernating. For the Yutu rover we have to hope and wait for the next lunar morning (around February 9) to assess the situation. Best wishes from all of us to the Yutu lunar Jade Rabbit.

We wish the teams and Change3 Yutu good luck and success for further operations. Lunar exploration is difficult, but these technical challenges bring progress for future lunar and planetary missions and even for applications in space and on Earth.

Related Posts:
Problem with solar-powered Yutu rover before nightfall (January 25, 2014)
Chang'e begins long-term science mission (January 18, 2014)
Preliminary Science Results from Chang'e-3 (January 16, 2014)
Chang'e-3 and Yutu survive first lunar night (January 14, 2014)
Chang'e-3 APXS delivers its first surface analysis (January 1, 2014)
Chang'e-3 lander and Yutu rover from LRO (December 31, 2013)
6 of 8 Chang'e-3 science instruments now active (December 18, 2013)
LRO: Finding Chang'e-3 (December 15, 2013)
China's Jade Rabbit, it's time in the Sun (December 15, 2013)
Chang'e-3 Landing Site in Mare Imbrium (December 15, 2013)
Jade Rabbit successfully deployed to the lunar surface (December 14, 2013)
It's not bragging if you do it (December 9, 2013)
"Lunar Aspirations" - Beijing Review (December 9, 2013)
Chang'e-3 safely inserted into lunar orbit (December 6, 2013)
CCTV: Chang'e-3, launch past TLO to Earthview (December 2, 2013)
Chang'e-3 launched from Xichang (December 1, 2013)
Chang'e-3 launch window opens 1 December 1730 UT (November 29, 2013)
Helping China to the Moon, ESA (November 29, 2013)
'Government Penalty' removed from Google Lunar XPRIZE terms (November 7, 2013)
Chang'e-3 and LADEE: The Role of Serendipity (October 31, 2013)
Outstanding animation celebrates China's Chang'e-3 (October 29, 2013)
LROC updates image tally of human artifacts on the Moon (September 25, 2013)
Chang'e-3: China's rover mission (May 4, 2013)
China's grand plan for lunar exploration (October 11, 2012)
ILOA to study deep space from Chang'e-3 (September 11, 2012)
China's Long March to the Moon (January 14, 2012)
China plans lunar research base (May 11, 2011)
PRC continues methodical program (March 8, 2011)
Chang'e-2 arrives in mission orbit (October 9, 2010)
Dispatch from Chang'e-2: Sinus Iridum (October 4, 2010)
Chang'e-2 takes direct approach (October 1, 2010)
Chang'e-2 sets stage for future lunar missions (September 3, 2010)
Chang'e-1 research reported published (July 22, 2010)
Chandrayaan-1 goes silent (August 29, 2009)

Global Lunar Conference and an "International Robot Village" on the Moon

The International Astronautical Federation (IAF), the International Lunar Exploration Working Group (ILEWG), the Chinese Astronautics Society and others are preparing to host the Global Lunar Conference in Beijing, May 31 - June 3, 1010.

Global Lunar Conference
11th ILEWG Conference on Exploration
and Utilisation of the Moon:

Representatives of the world's space agencies gather at the Global Lunar Congress with a new sense of mission, a result of recent news that there is water on the Moon. A popular concept of the 2004-2005 era, an international robot village on the Moon, is on the agenda, along with other ideas that prevailed before interest in returning Man to the Moon began losing ground to other space objectives. Host China can be expected to present a status report on its Chang’e 3-stage lunar mission.

The international robot village is described as an array of cooperating lunar landers by 2014 that prepares the ground for an "effective, affordable human lunar exploration and permanent presence by 2024."

The Chinese mission will culminate with the launch and landing of a rover on the moon to collect mineral samples in 2012. China became only the third nation, after the United States and Russia, to send a manned spacecraft into orbit. In September, the country’s space scientists announced they have completed the world’s highest-resolution three-dimensional map of the Moon.

The joint organizers of the congress, the Chinese Society of Astronautics and the International Astronautical Federation, argue that lunar missions will lead to new understanding of the origin and the development of the Solar System, opening "new avenues towards a utilisation of lunar resources that could be used in both the exploration of outer space and here on planet Earth."

For further information, the official conference website is here.

Strong hints of lunar H2O stirs excitement

This Mini-RF image from NASA's powerful Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter shows radar imagery of the lunar south pole, a potential reservoir for hidden water ice, in new images released Sept. 17, 2009. [NASA/APL/LPSI]

Leonard David
Space.com

Earth's aged, crater-pocked and seemingly bone-dry moon may well sport a wet look.

That outlook is gaining momentum via a wealth of new scientific measurements gleaned by an international armada of moon-orbiting scientific scouts, including a report last week that craters near the lunar poles, always in shadow, may harbor water ice.

Such a prospect could fuel those eager to send human explorers back to the moon, to establish a base camp there, and to hone talent and hardware for jumping off to other destinations.

Locating, mining and processing polar deposits of water ice on the moon, it is reasoned, would add up to a useful resource for future lunar inhabitants.

The idea of ice in the floors of sunlight-shy polar lunar craters was first aired in 1961 by Caltech researchers Kenneth Watson, Bruce Murray and Harrison Brown. In the late 1970s, James Arnold of the University of California, San Diego, suggested that comets and water-rich asteroids crashing into the moon could deposit water to the lunar surface.

Still, is the chatter about new lines of evidence supportive of water ice at the lunar poles a slam-dunk situation?

"If ice is found we have to further explore it with landers, rovers, coring drills to assess its distribution and composition," explained Bernard Foing, project scientist for the European Space Agency's now-defunct SMART-1 lunar orbiter. Foing is also the director of the International Lunar Exploration Working Group.

After such an assessment is made, the next task would be to figure out how ice could be partly exploited on the spot in some areas to ease the next steps of human exploration toward an international lunar base, Foing said.

Read the Article HERE.

ISECG to study three scenarios for international manned and unmanned lunar exploration

Representatives of ten international space agencies, operating together as the International Space Exploration Coordination Group (ISECG) met in Yokohama March 10-12, and resolved to study three scenarios for coordinated robotic and human lunar exploration.

Chaired by JAXA, the meeting examined past progress of ISECG activities work "in the spirit of the Global Exploration Strategy (GES)."

The three lunar scenarios under study include short and extended duration missions and six months at the proposed Shackleton-Armstrong station at the lunar south pole. Scenarios cover development of infrastructure in space and on the lunar surface.

The ISECG conference discussed standardization of mission-critical system interfaces. Participants expect the scenarios discussed to ensure accomplishment of co-operative lunar exploration objectives while accomplishing individual national goals and expressed interest in building upon success to define an international architecture.

Meeting participants, claim reports, also made significant progress in other areas., including achieving GES objectives through cooperation, development of tools for sharing information on exploration capabilities and mission plans across agencies.

The ISECG issued its 2008 annual report describing world-wide exploration activities and a summary of the three scenarios.

The 3.0 Lunar Exploration Scenarios Workshop participants examined architectures for three major types of lunar exploration: (1.) establishment of a polar outpost (2.) sortie and (3.) extended-stay missions.

Each scenario requires provisions for crew and cargo transportation, ground communications from the Moon to Earth and support for extravehicular activity. Participants discussed key architecture elements.

3.1 Polar Lunar Outpost Scenario

A human lunar outpost at one of the poles can be described as the build up of capabilities and elements that enable the opportunity for continuous presence of astronauts on the Moon, with individual stays of up to 180 days. It is envisioned that a completed outpost can be accomplished with a relatively small number of missions. An outpost can begin satisfying science, public outreach and other objectives during its construction phase and upon completion. A major attribute of a lunar outpost is to allow the international community to develop the systems and capabilities with sufficient reliability to consider undertaking an international mission to Mars.

3.2 Lunar Sortie Mission Scenario

A lunar sortie mission can be described as one or more short duration flights to any location on the moon. These missions will satisfy a range of science objectives as well as public engagement and others. The main characteristic of this type of mission is that the crew lives out of the NASA Altair lander (or another human lunar lander) and can conduct up to seven days worth of scientific or other activities with the resources brought with them. Pre-deployment of resources is not necessarily precluded in this scenario.

3.3 Extended-Stay Mission Scenario

The participants recognized that significant enhancement of sortie mission scenarios can be achieved if elements in addition to a human lunar lander are in-place on the lunar surface. The participants characterized an extended-stay scenario by the pre-deployment of elements that may extend the sortie mission crew time, provide additional capability for crew habitation, science or demonstration of capabilities and technologies necessary for human missions to Mars.

Agencies involved in ISECG include ASI (Italy), BNSC (UK), CNES (France), CNSA (China), CSA (Canada), CSIRO (Australia), DLR (Germany), ESA (European Space Agency), JAXA (Japan), KARI (Republic of Korea), NASA (United States of America), NSAU (Ukraine), Roscosmos (Russia).

The Global Exploration Strategy, framework for Coordination (Framework document) was released on May 31, 2007 based upon the common interest of fourteen international space agencies to create a shared framework for space exploration to “enhance mutual understanding among partners and to identify areas for potential cooperation. To work collectively towards the further development and implementation of the global exploration strategy set out in the Framework document, the International Space Exploration Coordination Group (ISECG) was established in Berlin, Germany on November 6, 2007.

ILEWG Summary of 2008

New Year Greetings from

Bernard Foing, ILEWG

Dr. Clive R. Neal of Notre Dame has fowarded the following message, including New Years Greetings from Bernard Foing, head of the International Lunar Exploration Working Group (ILEWG), who gathered for a joint Annual Meeting with the Space Science Roundtable and Lunar Exploration Analysis Group, last October:

Dear Lunar and Space Explorer,

2008 has been a great year for international lunar exploration. We saw exciting results from Kaguya and Chang'E1.

Chandrayaan-1 was successfully launched on 22 October and inserted in lunar orbit, providing first data.

The Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter and LCROSS missions are under intense preparation for launch next spring.

There was a remarkable progress on the Constellation programme (in particular on Orion Crew vehicle and Ares launcher).

The Google Lunar X Prize is inspiring entrepreneurs, the public and the youth.

All these achievements have been recognised by ILEWG awards 2008 announced last October.

ILEWG has supported a number of conferences (SPIE, EGU Vienna, COSPAR Montreal, NLSI Ames, Europlanet Muenster, IAC Glasgow, ILEWG/LEAG/SRR in Port Canaveral). The 10th ILEWG Conference on Exploration and Utilisation of the Moon was organised jointly with NASA Lunar Exploration Analysis Group (LEAG) and the Space Resources Roundtable (SRR), and included 200 participants, numbers of presentations (now posted on the LPI site), posters, discussions, recommendations and the Cape Canaveral Lunar Declaration 2008.

ILEWG has also enhanced the links with number of institutions (space agencies, IAF, COSPAR, IAA, Global Space Exploration, EGU, EuroPlanet, NLSI, Itaccus, GLXP, etc...).

COSPAR endorsed in July 2008 a recommendation to develop an "International Lunar Base" task group, and has asked ILEWG to organise a series of activities accordingly to report at COSPAR bureau in March 2009, and to the community at large during the COSPAR general assembly in Bremen on 18-25 July 2010.

The International Astronautical Federation has also asked ILEWG to co-sponsor a Global Lunar Conference in Beijing in early June 2010.

We want to enhance the activities of ILEWG task groups, with collaborations of institutes and experts.

1) Science of, on, and from the Moon;
2) Key technologies; Utilization of lunar resources; synergies with Mars and planetary exploration
3) Living and working on the Moon; Infrastructures for lunar bases; Surface operations and analogues; International Lunar Base
4) Society, law, policy, and commerce;
5) Public outreach, education, multicultural aspects; and Young Lunar Explorers.

Please contact me if you intend to support the ILEWG general events or to contribute to specific tasks groups.

Next year will be key to shape the future, and to make progress in space science, lunar and planetary exploration.

On behalf of ILEWG committee, I wish you (and your family) Happy holidays, and a very successful New Year 2009.

Prof Bernard H. Foing
ILEWG Executive Director

Links:
ILEWG website: http://sci.esa.int/ilewg
Cape Canaveral Lunar Declaration 2008
http://sci.esa.int/science-e/www/object/index.cfm?fobjectid=43654
ILEWG awards 2008
http://sci.esa.int/science-e/www/object/index.cfm?fobjectid=43707
Presentations ILEWG-LEAG2008
http://www.lpi.usra.edu/meetings/leagilewg2008/presentations/index.shtml

Cape Canaveral Lunar Declaration

10th ILEWG Conference on Exploration
and Utilization of the Moon
(ICEUM10)

31 October 2008

Approximately 200 International Lunar Explorers gathered at the 10th ILEWG Conference on Exploration and Utilization of the Moon (ICEUM10) co-sponsored by the International Lunar Exploration Working Group (ILEWG), NASA Lunar Exploration Analysis Group (LEAG), Space Resources Roundtable (SRR), and the Lunar and Planetary Institute, from 27 to 31 October, in Cape Canaveral, Florida, USA. The conference engaged scientists, engineers, industry, and organizations in the review of recent activities and the coordinated preparation of the next steps on the Moon.

The Japanese Kaguya and Chinese Chang’e-1 celebrated one year in lunar orbit, and have delivered a wealth of science data, discoveries and exploration findings. The SMART-1 team presented the latest data on polar peaks relevant for future landers and bases. The Indian ISRO Chandrayaan-1 mission (carrying six international instruments) has just been launched on 22 October toward the Moon. The NASA Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter and Lunar Crater Observation and Sensing Satellite (LCROSS) impactor are scheduled for joint launch in spring 2009. The participants appreciated the steady progress in technology development within the NASA Constellation program.

Read the Declaration HERE.