China's Chang'e 4 probe resumes work for 29th lunar day

BEIJING -- The lander and rover of the Chang'e 4 probe have resumed work for a 29th lunar day on the far side of the moon.

The lander woke up at 9:43 pm Tuesday (Beijing Time), and the rover, Yutu-2 (Jade Rabbit-2), awoke at 3:54 am Tuesday, according to the Lunar Exploration and Space Program Center of the China National Space Administration.

The Chang'e 4 probe, switching to dormant mode during the lunar night due to the lack of solar power, has survived about 825 Earth days on the moon. A lunar day is equal to 14 days on Earth, and a lunar night is the same length.

Located in the northwest of Chang'e 4's landing site, the rover has traveled about 682.8 meters. The linear distance between the rover and the landing site is about 455 meters.

During its 29th lunar day, the rover will continue to move northwest toward the basalt distribution area located about 1.2 km away from the rover.

The equipment aboard the rover, including a panoramic camera, an infrared imaging spectrometer, a neutral atom detector and a lunar radar, will continue to carry out scientific explorations.

The Chang'e 4 probe, launched on Dec 8, 2018, made the first-ever soft landing on the Von Karman Crater in the South Pole-Aitken Basin on the far side of the moon on Jan 3, 2019.