NASA orbiter spies Chang’e 3 and Yutu rover on the moon

NASA’s Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter’s captured an image of China’s Chang’e 3 lander and Yutu rover on the moon’s surface on December 25, 2013. Also on December 25, an instrument aboard the lunar rover sent back its first science results: a spectrum of lunar soil, or regolith.

Also, this week, the Institute of High Energy Physics Chinese Academy of Sciences announced that an instrument aboard the Yutu rover obtained its first X-ray fluorescence spectrum of lunar soil, or regolith, around the Chang’e landing site on December 25.

The instrument is the Active Particle-induced X-ray Spectrometer (APXS).

Initial analysis indicates that eight major rock-forming elements (Mg, Al, Si, K, Ca, Ti, Cr and Fe) and at least 3 minor elements (Sr, Y and Zr) of the moon can be identified in this spectrum.

Read more at the Institute of High Energy Physics Chinese Academy of Sciences

Bottom line: NASA’s Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter’s captured an image of China’s Chang’e 3 lander and Yutu rover on the moon’s surface on December 25, 2013. Also on December 25, an instrument aboard the lunar rover sent back its first science results: a spectrum of lunar soil, or regolith.