Author Topic: LIVE: Chang'e-3 lunar probe and rover, CZ-3B - Xichang - December 1, 2013 (Read 484769 times)

Satori · « **Reply #160 on:** 10/27/2013 05:57 pm »

Ten candidate names for China's first moon rover after global poll.

Satori · « **Reply #161 on:** 10/27/2013 05:59 pm »

Quote from: Galactic Penguin SST on 10/27/2013 05:13 am

The CZ-3B rocket for the mission has departed the CALT plant in Beijing today - arrival at Xichang is planned on November 1; while the launch team should arrive in 2 days time.

News report: http://tv.cntv.cn/video/C10601/bc1f86a9987f458290119675ad5a505c

Satori · « **Reply #162 on:** 10/27/2013 06:12 pm »

Carrier rocket sent to launch base for unmanned moon landing mission.

Blackstar · « **Reply #163 on:** 10/28/2013 02:51 am »

Do we have any dimensions on this thing yet? (It is possible that I've missed them.)

A colleague was in Beijing for the IAF and said that he saw some slides of people standing next to the rover and some other rover comparisons and said that it is pretty big, but I haven't yet seen a comparison to Curiosity or MER. I'm curious how it stacks up.

NovaSilisko · « **Reply #164 on:** 10/28/2013 06:19 pm »

Quote from: Blackstar on 10/28/2013 02:51 am

Do we have any dimensions on this thing yet? (It is possible that I've missed them.)

I haven't seen any exact numbers, the only thing I see is a number on wikipedia that lists the rover as 1.5m tall. No citation, of course...

Maybe a better approximation can be made from images of people near the lander? (such as the one attached)

In this picture though it's safe to say at least the rover's pretty big, around Lunokhod size.

Edit: Attached another picture, much better size reference. However, it seems to just be a mockup so who knows how different that is compared to the real thing.

plutogno · « **Reply #165 on:** 10/28/2013 06:24 pm »

I have posted some dimensions of the lander in post #147 of this thread, but I have not found any dimension of the rover in the literature

Galactic Penguin SST · « **Reply #166 on:** 10/29/2013 03:06 am »

BTW the name for the rover is now down to the last ten - the finalists sounds pretty NASA-esque if you ask me....

* Yutu (Jade Rabbit, a.k.a the Moon Rabbit)
* Tansuo (Explorer/Exploration)
* Lanyue (literally "to pull the Moon into one's arm", probably best translated as the Moon-hugger

)
* Qian Xuesen (Tsien Hsue-shen)
* Zhuimeng (Dreamchaser

)
* Xunmeng (Dream-seeker)
* Zhuiyue (Moonchaser)
* Mengxiang (Dream)
* Shiming (Mission/Destiny

)
* Qianjin (Forward/Progress

)

Given that many of the names has meanings that were already taken by famous spacecrafts, I'll go with the Moon Rabbit - I guess even if it loses it will become its nickname anyway.

Cast your votes here! The initial down-selection voting to the final 3 names ends on Thursday, so don't miss out!

cmj9808 · « **Reply #167 on:** 10/29/2013 10:27 am »

A member of 9ifly forum has made a 3-D animation of Chang'e-3 mission and loaded it on youtube. IMO, it's really nice work. He would very much appreciate it if you guys can give some comments and suggestions.

plutogno · « **Reply #168 on:** 10/29/2013 01:12 pm »

Quote from: cmj9808 on 10/29/2013 10:27 am

He would very much appreciate it if you guys can give some comments and suggestions.

very nice!
except that, of course, Chang'e 3 is not the first lunar rover mission

Blackstar · « **Reply #169 on:** 10/29/2013 09:06 pm »

plutonogo posted this graphic earlier. I have annotated it to include the dimensions at their locations.

At some point I may also annotate it to include the far more logical English measurement units.

Star One · « **Reply #170 on:** 10/30/2013 08:03 am »

I saw it suggested in comments on another site that the lander for this was so large that maybe it could be the basis for a manned lander later on, to me that seems pretty unlikely?

stone · « **Reply #171 on:** 10/30/2013 10:09 am »

I thought it is planed big enough to host the sample return equipment for the Chang'e-5 lunar probe,so that they have not to worry about changed design?

Star One · « **Reply #172 on:** 10/30/2013 12:41 pm »

Quote from: stone on 10/30/2013 10:09 am

I thought it is planed big enough to host the sample return equipment for the Chang'e-5 lunar probe,so that they have not to worry about changed design?

That suggestion makes far more sense to me as far as its design is concerned.

hwshenhw96 · « **Reply #173 on:** 10/30/2013 04:15 pm »

Quote from: plutogno on 10/29/2013 01:12 pm

Quote from: cmj9808 on 10/29/2013 10:27 am
He would very much appreciate it if you guys can give some comments and suggestions.

very nice!
except that, of course, Chang'e 3 is not the first lunar rover mission

it has been told in the video that chang'e 3 is the first lunar in recent 37 years but not in history

plutogno · « **Reply #174 on:** 10/30/2013 05:13 pm »

Quote from: hwshenhw96 on 10/30/2013 04:15 pm

it has been told in the video that chang'e 3 is the first lunar in recent 37 years but not in history

video only says:
"first roving exploration of the lunar surface"

KevWang · « **Reply #175 on:** 10/30/2013 08:01 pm »

Quote from: plutogno on 10/30/2013 05:13 pm

Quote from: hwshenhw96 on 10/30/2013 04:15 pm
it has been told in the video that chang'e 3 is the first lunar in recent 37 years but not in history

video only says:
"first roving exploration of the lunar surface"

I think it means"China's" first roving exploration of the lunar surface. If you look the video carefully, the whole sentence is "China's first soft-landing beyond earth (and,) first roving exploration of the lunar surface." The mistake is just grammatical.

Satori · « **Reply #176 on:** 11/02/2013 05:53 pm »

From Xinhua, City-made lunar rover set for moon.

edkyle99 · « **Reply #177 on:** 11/03/2013 10:28 pm »

Do we have a ground track for this launch? I'm interested because the rover has a Plutonium 238 radioisotope thermoelectric generator.

- Ed Kyle

Blackstar · « **Reply #178 on:** 11/04/2013 12:36 am »

Quote from: edkyle99 on 11/03/2013 10:28 pm

Do we have a ground track for this launch? I'm interested because the rover has a Plutonium 238 radioisotope thermoelectric generator.

The rover is solar powered. But it has RHUs.

edkyle99 · « **Reply #179 on:** 11/04/2013 01:12 am »

Quote from: Blackstar on 11/04/2013 12:36 am

Quote from: edkyle99 on 11/03/2013 10:28 pm
Do we have a ground track for this launch? I'm interested because the rover has a Plutonium 238 radioisotope thermoelectric generator.
The rover is solar powered. But it has RHUs.

Hmmmm. AIAA got it wrong then (RTG was listed in an Aerospace America article). RHU's still make me interested in the ground track.

- Ed Kyle