While two lunar landers, Blue Ghost-1 (Firefly Aerospace) and Resilience (ispace), took off on January 15 aboard a Falcon 9 rocket, the fate of the Chinese rover Yutu-2 raises questions.
Indeed, according to information from Spacenewsthe machine which arrived in the Von Kármán crater in January 2019 as part of the Chang'e-4 mission has not moved since last March.
NASA's LRO probe flies over Yutu-2 about once a month
“ Until February 2023, the rover moved about 7 or 8 meters during each drive and typically about 40 meters per lunar day. Suddenly the movements dropped to around 3 or 4 m each and only 8 or 10 m per lunar day “, explains Phil Stooke, professor emeritus at the Institute for Earth and Space Exploration at the University of Western Ontario.
Since China only communicates sporadically on the status of Yutu-2, these observations were carried out using NASA's Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter probe which takes images of the rover approximately once a month. “ Unfortunately, there were very few movements last year and apparently none since March 2024 », notes Phil Stooke.
Record longevity
Yutu-2 is the first rover to explore the far side of the Moon. Initially designed to be operational for three months, it far exceeded this deadline with a period of activity that lasted more than five years. According to the latest information provided by Chinese media last September, Yutu-2 has traveled 1,613 meters since its arrival.
He explored a variety of terrains such as craters, hills and lava plains. He notably discovered a “shiny gel” at the bottom of a crater which raised many questions before it was finally identified as impactite, that is to say rock melted under the effect of the impact of a meteorite.
A breakdown of unknown origin
What could have stopped Yutu-2? As the Chinese space agency does not communicate on this subject, observers are making some conjectures. The rover could have broken down under the combined effect of extreme temperatures, radiation, very abrasive lunar regolith and the terrain it encountered. It is also possible that the Queqiao relay satellite, then its successor Queqiao-2, will no longer be able to communicate with the vehicle on the ground.
Regardless, Yutu-2 demonstrated the technological maturity of the Chinese lunar program, which has since accomplished another feat by bringing samples from the far side back to Earth for the first time during the Chang'e 6 mission in 2024. And we can expect other highlights with the Chang'e-7 (2026) and Chang'e-8 (2028) missions which will explore the South Pole of the Moon. Chang'e-7 includes an orbiter, a lander, a Yutu-3 rover and a six-legged robot to study resources and the environment.
Chang'e-8 will continue the study of water resources in the polar region and serve as the basis for the International Lunar Research Station (ILRS) project, which China plans to complete around 2035- 2040
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