The rover, named Yutu or "Jade Rabbit" weighs in at 260 lbs, and has a top speed of 660 feet an hour. It's only expected to last about 3 months while the landing module should hold out for about a year. Does anybody remember the Olympics back in 08' when China wouldn't allow any of the American networks do their own broadcast of the opening ceremonies so that they could "digitally enhance" the picture for the rest of the world? (Read: Photoshop in a crap-load of more fireworks even though they invented the stuff in the first place and are still pretty much the world's sole supplier) Well, the state media didn't let the folks back home watch the actual landing either (in case they screwed up royally) opting instead to replay an animation of what was supposed to happen instead.
Impressive right? I'm pretty sure that was generated on the same graphics card that was used for the Nintendo 64 back in 1997. Oddly enough, that was the same year that we put our first rover Sojourner on Mars. Check that first picture again. Notice any similarities? Na, Probably just a coincidence.
Original story here.
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