We all know that the China's first lunar mission - Chang'e 3 was launched on 2nd December, 2013. The space module carrying China's first lunar rover is scheduled to land on the moon on Saturday, 14th Dec., 2013.
This task is going to be the most difficult task of the mission as per the space authorities of China. The rover is called as Yutu or Jade Rabbit. With this landing, China is aiming to become the 3rd country to carry out a rover mission to Moon, after USA and Russia decades ago.
The rover - Jade Rabbit reached the lunar orbit on Friday after 112 hours after it was launched from China. The rover is expected to land on Moon on 14th December, 2013 and will be searching for natural resources.
The Chang'e 3 spacecraft will be making a power-assisted or a "Soft" lunar landing at Simus Iridum, or the Bay of Rainbows which is a site selected because of its relatively level terrain. The Jade Rabbit rover will roll out of the spacecraft to collect the soil samples and survey the lunar surface to search for resources for about 3 months.
The scientists say that one focus of China's lunar soil analysis is the level of Helium-3, which is an isotope which can be used in nuclear fusion in future. Earth contains only 15 tons of Helium-3 which is expected to be available in large quantities on moon. Space scientists in China say that theoretically there is helium-3 on moon, but it is difficult to extract it. You need to dig very deep into Moon's soil and then heat the soil to hundreds of degrees so that Helium-3 can be released.
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