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China's moon rover works stably

(Xinhua)    09:40, December 22, 2013
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Screen shows the photo of the Yutu moon rover taken by the camera on the Chang'e-3 moon lander during the mutual-photograph process, at the Beijing Aerospace Control Center in Beijing, capital of China, Dec. 15, 2013. The moon rover and the moon lander took photos of each other Sunday night, marking the complete success of the Chang'e-3 lunar probe mission. (Xinhua)

BEIJING, Dec. 21 -- China's moon rover, Yutu (Jade Rabbit), worked in stable condition following its restart after a "nap" on Friday night, according to the Beijing Aerospace Control Center (BACC).

The six-wheeled rover started moving again after shutting down its subsystems on Dec. 16, and has traveled about 21 meters as of 8:05 p.m. Beijing Time on Saturday, according to the BACC.

Xinhua reporters observed at the center that the rover is moving slowly and tracks of the wheels can be seen clearly at around 5:00 p.m..

Real-time telemetry updates showed that all subsystems of the rover and lander are working stably, and the rover has sent more than 500 instructions to the lander within the 24 hours after the "nap".

Yutu separated from the lander on Dec. 15, several hours after Chang'e-3 soft-landed on Dec. 14. It moved to a spot about 9 meters to the north where Yutu and the lander took photos of each other.

Yutu will survey the moon's geological structure and surface substances and look for natural resources for three months, while the lander will conduct in-situ exploration at the landing site for one year.

(Editor:WangXin、Yao Chun)

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