Beijing: China hailed its Chang’e-3 lunar probe mission “a complete success” on Sunday night, after its first moon rover Yutu, or Jade Rabbit, and lander took photos of each other on lunar surface, Xinhua reported.
While the moon rover Yutu has been designed to survey the moon’s geological structure and surface substances and look for natural resources for three months at a speed of 200 metres per hour, the lander will conduct in-situ exploration at the landing site for one year.
The 140-kg rover separated from the lander and touched the lunar surface at 4:35 a.m. Sunday, several hours after Chang’e-3 lunar probe soft-landed on the moon’s surface at 9:11 p.m. Saturday.
Chang’e-3 landed on the moon’s Sinus Iridum, or the Bay of Rainbows, making China the third country in the world to carry out such a rover mission after the US and Soviet Union.
This is the world’s first soft-landing of a probe on the moon in nearly four decades. The last such soft-landing was carried out by the Soviet Union in 1976. (IANS)
