China's first moon rover is broken beyond repair

[~Time Published February 12, 2014 at 06:13PM]

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The journey is over for China's moon rover. China's state news agency is reporting today that the country's space agency has not been able to restore function to the Jade Rabbit rover, which suffered a mechanical malfunction late last month. The rover initially malfunctioned as it was preparing for the two-week lunar night, a period where it would be exposed to extreme cold temperatures and be unable to receive solar power. It likely failed to enter its hibernation mode, exposing critical components to environmental hazards for the past two weeks.

New Scientist reports that China's space agency would have been unable to communicate with its rover during the lunar night, meaning it wasn't able to attempt to reconnect with Jade Rabbit...

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[update: Jade Rabbit is upgraded to half dead now]

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