China's first lunar rover, Jade Rabbit, has issued what may turn out to be an emotional goodbye to its fans after experiencing technical problems over the weekend.

On Saturday the state news agency Xinhua broke the news of Jade Rabbit's "mechanical control abnormality" with a statement written from the point of view of the Moon rover itself.

"The bad news is, I was supposed to go to sleep this morning, but before I went to sleep, my masters found some mechanical control abnormalities," the message read.

"Some parts of my body won't listen to their commands. Now my masters are hard at work thinking of ways to fix me … even so, I know that it's possible I won't be able to endure this night."

Jade Rabbit, or Yutu in Chinese, landed on the Moon's surface on 15 December last year and has been a great source of pride in China, where the rover's journey has been followed widely. The landing, part of the Chinese Chang'e-3 mission, was the first of its kind since 1976.

"I originally thought I could hop around up here for three months," Jade Rabbit continued. "But if this trip is to end prematurely, I'm not afraid. Whether or not they can fix me, I know that my breakdown can provide my masters with a lot of valuable information and experience.

"I'll tell everyone a little secret: I'm actually not that sad," it concluded. "I'm just in my own adventure story, and like any protagonist, I encountered a bit of a problem. Goodnight, Earth. Goodnight, humans."

Chinese social-media sites erupted with condolences for Jade Rabbit. "Little bunny, we're praying for you!" one person wrote. On Monday afternoon, "Jade Rabbit lunar rover" was one of the most-searched terms on Sina Weibo, the Chinese version of Twitter.

"In space exploration, there's great beauty, but there's also great difficulty," another person commented. "I hope one day you will be resurrected."

The Xinhua report said that half of the 130 Moon missions had involved some sort of failure. This has been interpreted as an attempt to prepare the Chinese public for the bad news that the rover cannot be saved.

"Reading between the lines, I think the Chinese are preparing for the loss of their rover," Lutz Richter, a planetary rover specialist with German aerospace company Kayser-Threde, told the South China Morning Post.

"This is speculation, but I think there's a problem with the electrical motors that close the solar panels," he added.

If the solar panels cannot close, internal electrical components normally shielded will freeze and become irreparably damaged, said Richter.