Sorry, conspiracy theorists — NASA’s Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter has independently confirmed that China’s Chang’e mission successfully landed on the Moon.

Not that there was any real doubt about the matter, but it’s always nice to get some before-and-after photos of a lunar landing site. The following animation shows the site with and without the Yutu, or “Jade Rabbit” rover, taken on 30 June and 24 December 2013 respectively.

In it, if you squint a little, you can see a tiny bright dot casting a small shadow over the surface of the Moon. That’s Chang’e. If you look just below, you’ll see an even tinier dot casting an even smaller shadow. That’s Yutu.

As we’ve discussed previously on Looking Up, the Chang’e mission is designed to test new technologies, gather scientific data and built intellectual expertise for the country. It carries a ground-penetrating radar that will be used to scan the soil and crust below it to try and ascertain more about the Moon’s interior.

First X-ray fluorescent spectrum of lunar regolith obtained by APXS. Source.

The first data from that mission is starting to be received back on Earth. The rover has already sent back an X-ray fluorescent spectrum of the make-up of the rocks below it — showing evidence of potassium, silicon, zirconium, magnesium, calcium and iron. Knowing what the Moon is made of is likely to be of great interest when planning future missions.

Unfortunately, the rover’s mission doesn’t have too long on the clock. Unlike NASA’s Martian rovers, which have a lifespan of years, Yutu is only expected to last three months on the surface. By mid-March, its time will be up and it’ll be abandoned to the Lunar surface — at least until future generations recover it and put it in the first lunar museum.