A post on Weibo titled, "Chinese moon rover Yutu", suggesting the machine's survival after an icy lunar night, made a splash online, with Web users piling their joys over seeing the troubled machine's long-anticipated awakening.
A short post on Yutu's official Weibo account asking, "Hi, anybody there?" at 8:49 am on Thursday drew 39,182 comments and was forwarded 31,266 times in three hours.
"Yutu has regained normal signal reception function, the same status as before it went into dormancy. We are still working to verify the cause of its mechanical control abnormality," said Pei Zhaoyu, a spokesman for China's lunar probe program, on Thursday.
The account, run by an online science community Guokr.com, stopped posting on Jan 25, when top science and technology officials announced the moon rover experienced a "mechanical control abnormality" just before it entered its second hibernation period.
In order to eat traditional food yuanxiao, a festive food for Lantern Festival, Yutu fought for survival on the cold moon and finally awoke, murmuring "sesame-stuffed yuanxiao please......" | |
My boy is 4 years old, and he wanted me to tell you: Dear Yutu, I miss you so much. Wish you could get better and I'll fix you when I become a scientist! | |
You lazy bunny! We have waited for your awakening for such a long time and you are finally here. If you bring some presents when you are heading home, I will not blame you for being late again. | |
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Hi, we are all here. |
When I saw this post, I kind of wanted to cry, but I don't know why. You are trying to be cute again, ha? Hope you can run around soon. | |
Anybody there? Do you know how many people who love you are waiting for your news with tears and worries? | |
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Yutu insists on working in a physically weak condition…Definitely going to present you with an award, Yutu! |
@uhf_satcom has some evidence that Yutu has phoned home! Welcome back! Yutu's signals have been received! It's alive! It's awake! It's happening! | |
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Tomorrow is Lantern Festival. You are alone and treat yourself to yuanxiao. |
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Wish Yutu could function like Spirit and Opportunity. It's a long way to go, but we will eventually get there. |
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All signals have been received, which means Yutu has connected to the ground! Hope we can confirm its status soon!Wish it back! |
Yutu, actually you just tried to sneak out for longer Spring Festival holidays, right? Starting work seven days later than us, good for you! |
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Special: Moon Rover 'Jade Rabbit' | China's lunar rover comes back to life |
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