According to a report from the Wall Street Journal,China’s new lunar rover now has both a name and a launch window.
After soliciting suggestions online, China’s State Administration of Science, Technology and Industry for National Defense announced that the country’s unmanned moon-exploration vehicle will be called the “Jade Rabbit,” or Yutu in Mandarin.
“Yutu is a symbol of kindness, purity and agility, and is identical to the moon rover in both outlook and connotation,” Li Bezheng, deputy commander-in-chief of China’s lunar program, said at a news conference Tuesday,according to Xinhua . “Yutu also reflects China’s peaceful use of space,” he added.
The name is a reference to a mythical hare said to live on the moon along with the moon goddess Chang’e. Yutu is sometimes depicted using a mortar and pestle to mix an elixir of immortality, a task that earns him a mention in “Old Dust” by celebrated Tang dynasty poet Li Bai: “One brief journey between heaven and earth/Then, sadly, we are the same as the dust of ten thousand ages/The rabbit on the moon mixes his medicine in vain.”
The rover’s time will be limited as well. According to Xinhua, it is scheduled to land on the moon in the middle of December as part of the Chang’e-3 lunar probe and explore the surface for three months.
