China's moon rover works stably

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).[Special coverage]

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.