China declares its lunar probe has stopped operating

The Verge : This morning, China officially confirmed that its Yutu, or “jade rabbit,” lunar rover is no longer operating. Launched in March 2013 as part of China’s Chang’e 3 mission, Yutu proved to be the country’s first successful lunar rover. Planned to last just 3 months, it instead held on for 31 months, becoming the longest-operating lunar rover. Communications with the rover were briefly lost in February 2014 after one of its shutdowns during the lunar night, a 14-day period in which temperatures drop as low as –183 °C. When communications were reestablished, it was confirmed that the rover had lost the ability to move, and Yutu has remained stationary ever since. Among the new information learned about the Moon, Yutu‘s instruments have revealed that there are nine distinct layers of rock beneath the lunar surface and that the rover’s landing site differs geologically from the Apollo landing sites.