China’s first lunar rover, Yutu, has been operating on the moon for almost two years, setting the record for the longest stay by a rover, according to a Chinese lunar probe scientist.<\/p>\n
Yutu was deployed and landed on the moon via China’s Chang’e-3 lunar probe in 2013, staying longer than the Soviet Union’s 1970 moon rover Lunokhod 1, which spent 11 months on the moon.<\/p>\n
Its operations have streamed live through Sina Weibo, a Chinese microblogging site, and its Weibo account has nearly 600,000 followers.<\/p>\n
Yutu experienced a mechanical control abnormality in 2014, but it was revived within a month and, though it is unable to move, it continues to collect data, send and receive signals, and record images and video.<\/p>\n
“Human history is relatively short, and people are brimming over with curiosity about the universe,” said Ye Peijian, chief scientist with China’s Chang’e-3 program. “We have to explore more by going out.”<\/p>\n
The launch of Dongfanghong-1, China’s first satellite, in 1970 made China the fifth country to launch a domestic satellite using a domestic rocket, following the Soviet Union, the United States, France and Japan.<\/p>\n
China launched its manned space program in the 1990s and successfully sent Yang Liwei, the country’s first astronaut, into orbit on the Shenzhou-5 spacecraft in 2003.<\/p>\n
The Chang’e-1 mission in 2007 inaugurated an era of Chinese lunar exploration, followed by Chang’e-2 and Chang’e-3, with the latter marking completion of the second phase of China’s lunar program, which includes orbiting, landing and returning to Earth.<\/p>\n
Chang’e-3 delivered the rover and a stationary lander to the lunar surface in 2013, making China the third country after the Soviet Union and the United States to carry out such a mission.<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, China is planning to be the first country to land a lunar probe on the far side of the moon, or “dark side of the moon,” which is never visible to Earth.<\/p>\n
The mission will be carried out by Chang’e-4, a backup probe for Chang’e-3, according to Ye.(Xinhua)<\/p>\n
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