Chang´e 1 gets check-up

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The beam antenna works as the probe's ears and is used to transmit exploration data.The two devices are functioning properly.

On Friday afternoon, Chang'e-One met another challenge --- the sun outage.

This phenomenon occurs when the sun, the orbiter and the receiving ground antenna are in line with each other. The energy from the sun can override the orbiter's signals and result in the loss of transmission.

BACC official Li jian said, "When the sun outage occurs, there's no guarantee that we can track the orbiter without any interruption. In this case, we put instructions into the orbiter beforehand. Even while away from our view, Chang'e-One can operate normally as it was designed to."

The biggest interruption from the sun came at nearly seven a.m. on Saturday. But with a more capable antenna in use, engineers could effectively weaken the interruption.As of six p.m. on Saturday, no communications cut-offs were reported.

Editor:Zhang Ning