Reaching is good. Think Apollo 8. It would be a total waste of money to test the lander and then test the rover on a separate flight.
Quote from: Phil Stooke on 02/02/2014 06:01 pmReaching is good. Think Apollo 8. It would be a total waste of money to test the lander and then test the rover on a separate flight.But there's a trade off with risk. If the lander and rover had crashed on the surface, then people would say that it was a waste of the rover to fly it without testing the lander first.I'm not saying that's the case--it's China's space program and who am I to tell another country how to run their space program?--but these kinds of considerations exist. The Chinese approach seems to be to take fewer but larger steps, and it is possible that at some point that's going to cause them to fall down.
Given the immense successes of the mission I don't think we can reasonably say they have fallen down.
Quote from: Dalhousie on 02/03/2014 07:50 pmGiven the immense successes of the mission I don't think we can reasonably say they have fallen down.First, note the conditional clause "if."Second, they didn't reach their lifetime goal.
Quote from: Blackstar on 02/03/2014 08:50 pmQuote from: Dalhousie on 02/03/2014 07:50 pmGiven the immense successes of the mission I don't think we can reasonably say they have fallen down.First, note the conditional clause "if."Second, they didn't reach their lifetime goal.The lander is still operating as far as we know. Only the rover may have not reached it's lifetime goal. Disapointing, but not a failure. It has still met all the other objectives and delivered useful science. Chandrayaan did not reach its' full mission either, but is regarded as a success
Quote from: Dalhousie on 02/03/2014 11:31 pmQuote from: Blackstar on 02/03/2014 08:50 pmQuote from: Dalhousie on 02/03/2014 07:50 pmGiven the immense successes of the mission I don't think we can reasonably say they have fallen down.First, note the conditional clause "if."Second, they didn't reach their lifetime goal.The lander is still operating as far as we know. Only the rover may have not reached it's lifetime goal. Disapointing, but not a failure. It has still met all the other objectives and delivered useful science. Chandrayaan did not reach its' full mission either, but is regarded as a successYeah, and I'm not arguing that, so I don't understand what your beef is.Success is measured along a spectrum, not black/white, yes/no.
Chang'e 3 has been highly successful overal.
Harsh climate conditions are not at all the cause of yutu failure! Didn't you read the chinese "cryptic" report? The cause is the terrain.What I understand is that, given the panels can rotate around orizontal axis, the mechanism was overstressed when yutu passed over a small crater, or when a wheel came abrubtly down back to ground after passing over a small rock.How much delicate and inadequate are those panels for an harsh surface is visble in very first images of the rover taken from its back.Even on a flat terrain, motors must provide much more power to rotate around orizontal axis.Panels rotating around vertical axis would have been much better.
Quote from: jumpjack on 02/05/2014 06:51 amHarsh climate conditions are not at all the cause of yutu failure! Didn't you read the chinese "cryptic" report? The cause is the terrain.What I understand is that, given the panels can rotate around orizontal axis, the mechanism was overstressed when yutu passed over a small crater, or when a wheel came abrubtly down back to ground after passing over a small rock.How much delicate and inadequate are those panels for an harsh surface is visble in very first images of the rover taken from its back.Even on a flat terrain, motors must provide much more power to rotate around orizontal axis.Panels rotating around vertical axis would have been much better.All of this is speculation at best...
Sir Patrick Stewart dresses up as China's dying lunar rover, bids farewell to humanity.http://www.theverge.com/2014/2/5/5384412/sir-patrick-stewart-dresses-up-as-chinas-dying-lunar-rover-bids
Quote from: Star One on 02/06/2014 12:54 pmSir Patrick Stewart dresses up as China's dying lunar rover, bids farewell to humanity.http://www.theverge.com/2014/2/5/5384412/sir-patrick-stewart-dresses-up-as-chinas-dying-lunar-rover-bidsYeah, but I found Jon Stewart's gurning and try-hard manner too painful to watch. Even he can be funnier than that...