Jason Davis • Jan 03, 2019
Chang'e-4 deploys rover on far side of the Moon
News brief
Following an historic first landing on the far side of the Moon earlier today, China's Chang'e-4 spacecraft is already hard at work. The lander's first order of business was deploying its rover, which is named Yutu-2, China's space agency announced. The rover rolled down its ramp at 14:22 UTC to begin exploring Von Kármán crater.
![Yutu-2 with six wheels on the Moon!](https://planetary.s3.amazonaws.com/web/assets/pictures/_768x768_crop_center-center_60_line/20190103_yutu2_deployed.jpg 768w, https://planetary.s3.amazonaws.com/web/assets/pictures/_576x576_crop_center-center_60_line/20190103_yutu2_deployed.jpg 576w)
Here's one of Yutu-2's six wheels on the Chang'e-4 lander prior to deployment:
![Yutu-2’s wheels, pre-deployment](https://planetary.s3.amazonaws.com/web/assets/pictures/_768x768_crop_center-center_60_line/20190103_yutu2_predeploy2.jpg 768w, https://planetary.s3.amazonaws.com/web/assets/pictures/_576x576_crop_center-center_60_line/20190103_yutu2_predeploy2.jpg 576w)
And an image of the landing site:
![Chang’e-4's first image of the landing site](https://planetary.s3.amazonaws.com/web/assets/pictures/_768x768_crop_center-center_60_line/20190103_change4-first-image.jpg 768w, https://planetary.s3.amazonaws.com/web/assets/pictures/_576x576_crop_center-center_60_line/20190103_change4-first-image.jpg 576w)
A close-up from the descent camera:
![Chang’e-4 descent camera image: touchdown!](https://planetary.s3.amazonaws.com/web/assets/pictures/_768x768_crop_center-center_60_line/20190103_9e5389bbly1fytb096xwwj20sg0sg4c1.jpg 768w, https://planetary.s3.amazonaws.com/web/assets/pictures/_576x576_crop_center-center_60_line/20190103_9e5389bbly1fytb096xwwj20sg0sg4c1.jpg 576w)
And some very happy technicians:
![Celebrating Chang’e-4’s landing](https://planetary.s3.amazonaws.com/web/assets/pictures/_576x770_crop_center-center_60_line/20190103_137716841_15464919637811n.jpg 576w)
We're also tracking updates on the landing location. Here's a thread at nasaspaceflight.com, and an update from an LRO scientist:
Looks like Change-4 landed near 45.47084 South, 177.60563 East Quickmap view at: https://t.co/Vqce86qB5Z
— Noah Petro (@nepetro) January 3, 2019
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