China’s first Moon rover and part of the Chang’e 3 lunar landing mission. The six-wheeled rover rolled off Chang’e 3’s landing platform and onto the lunar surface on 14 December 2013, just hours after Chang’e 3 successfully touched down in Mare Imbrium. Yutu stands 1.5 metres tall and weighs about 140 kilograms. It was expected to operate for three months, exploring 3 sq km of lunar surface with its ground-penetrating radar and spectrometers, but operated for 2.5 years, setting a new record for the longest period a lunar rover has operated on the Moon; it beat out the Soviet Union’s Lunokhod 1 rover, which operated for only 11 months. Yutu ceased operations on 31 July 2016, after making important discoveries about the area’s complex geologic history. One result was Yutu’s discovery of a new type of basaltic rock.