SOMETHING has gone sadly wrong with Yutu, the lunar rover that China successfully launched and placed on the surface of the moon in December. But something has also gone very right with the way authorities have chosen to talk to the public about the setback. Officials have found a playful and, for China, very unusual way to break the bad news that the rover has malfunctioned, and that its operating life is probably coming to a premature end.
In addition to a straight news report about the malfunction, the state-run Xinhua news agency reported (in Chinese) on a “diary” in which the rover (pictured) delivered a feigned first-person account of its situation.
“Hello everyone,” it began. “Today is the 42nd day since I reached the moon. There are several bits of good news and one bit of bad news. Which do you want to hear first?”
The good news was that Yutu (or Jade Rabbit, a figure in Chinese lunar mythology) had travelled more than 100 metres on the lunar surface, and that its radar, cameras, particle analyser and infrared spectrometer had all collected valuable data.
But then came the bad news. “My masters found I have a mechanical control abnormality,\” the account said. “Some of my body parts will not obey their commands…I know there is a possibility I will not make it through this night.”
The unit’s failure would cut short the planned working life of the rover. Or, as Yutu explained in its diary, “I originally thought I could hop around here for three months, and tell everyone about all the kinds of big rocks I’d discover.”
Finally, Yutu signed off: “Goodnight, Earth. Good night, humanity.”
This innovative communications approach has earned admiring and warmhearted coverage in Western news media. It has also inspired a vast outpouring of supportive and sympathetic messages on Chinese social media, where the response to official news is often cynical and contemptuous.
via China’s lunar rover: Well played, sir! | The Economist.
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