14 DAY TRIAL // Officials at the American space agency announce that their Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) will conduct a series of observations of Chang'e-3, the Chinese National Space Administration's (CNSA) lander that arrived on the surface of the Moon on Saturday, December 14.
Chang'e-3 did not come alone. It was accompanied by the six-wheeled Yutu rover, which has since been deployed. The small robot has already started driving on the surface of the Moon, after being deployed in a landscape feature called Mare Imbrium.
“Repeated imaging of the landing site by LROC [the LRO Camera] will allow for detailed measurements of changes to the surface caused by the landing and movement of the Chang’e 3 rover,” NASA announced last Friday. The Lunar Atmosphere and Dust Environment Explorer (LADEE) probe will also be investigating the Chang'e-3 landing site soon.
Over the course of the weekend, China became the third country in the world to achieve a soft landing on the surface of Earth's natural satellite. The mission puts CNSA right up there with NASA and RosCosmos as the leading space exploration agencies in the world, and elevates China to the rank of a superpower in space.