Chang'e-4 survives first lunar night discovers night colder than you ever thought

Washington, Feb 01: China's Chang'e-4 probe has survived the first lunar night and has found that the temperature of the lunar surface is colder than expected as it drops to as low as minus 190 degrees centigrade and lower than the data obtained by the US Apollo mission on the near side of the Moon.

The rover and the lander of the Chang'e-4 probe have been awakened by sunlight after a long "sleep" during the first extremely cold night on the moon, said the China National Space Administration (CNSA).

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

China's Chang'e-4 probe, launched on December 8, landed on the Von Karman Crater in the South Pole-Aitken Basin on the far side of the Moon on January 3.

Chinese lunar rover landed on the far side of the moon on January 3, becoming the world's first to touch down on the moon's uncharted side never visible from Earth. This is the first time Chinese scientists have received first-hand data about the temperatures on the surface of the moon during the lunar night.