The lander and rover of the Chang'e-4 probe have resumed work for the 15th lunar day on the far side of the moon after "sleeping" during the extremely cold night.

The lander woke up at 6:57 a.m. Tuesday (Beijing time), and the rover awoke at 5:55 p.m. Monday. Both are in normal working order, according to the Lunar Exploration and Space Program Center of the China National Space Administration.

The rover, Yutu-2 or Jade Rabbit-2, has traveled 367.25 meters on the far side of the moon, with a plan to drive northwest and then southwest to continue its scientific exploration.

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.

A lunar day equals 14 days on Earth, and a lunar night is the same length. The Chang'e-4 probe switched to dormant mode during the lunar night due to the lack of solar power.

The scientific tasks of the Chang'e-4 mission include conducting low-frequency radio astronomical observation, surveying the terrain and landforms, detecting the mineral composition and shallow lunar surface structure and measuring neutron radiation and neutral atoms.

The Chang'e-4 mission embodies China's hope to combine wisdom in space exploration with four payloads developed by the Netherlands, Germany, Sweden and Saudi Arabia.

China plans to launch its first Mars probe and the Chang'e-5 probe to bring lunar samples back to Earth later this year.

Related Links
Lunar Exploration and Space Program
Mars News and Information at MarsDaily.com
Lunar Dreams and more

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