China's Chang'e-4 probe resumes work for 26th lunar day

Photo taken by the rover Yutu-2 (Jade Rabbit-2) on Jan. 11, 2019 shows the lander of the Chang'e-4 probe. (Xinhua/China National Space Administration)

BEIJING, Jan. 8 (Xinhua) -- The lander and rover of the Chang'e-4 probe have resumed work for the 26th lunar day on the far side of the moon.

The lander woke up at 3:13 a.m. on Friday (Beijing time), and the rover Yutu-2, or Jade Rabbit-2, woke up at 10:29 a.m. on Thursday, according to the Lunar Exploration and Space Program Center of the China National Space Administration.

Landing on the moon on Jan. 3, 2019, the Chang'e-4 probe has survived 736 Earth days on the moon.

A lunar day is equal to about 14 days on Earth, and a lunar night is of the same length. The solar-powered probe switches to dormant mode during the lunar night.

During the 26th lunar day, Yutu-2 will move northwest toward the basalt area or the impact craters with high reflectivity.

Yutu-2 will take panoramic photos, and its infrared imaging spectrometer, neutral atom detector and lunar radar will continue to carry out scientific explorations. Research teams will analyze the detection data and release the scientific results.