- Madrid's Carvajal to miss several months after serious knee injury
- Israel pounds Lebanon ahead of Hamas attack anniversary
- Two elephants die in flash flooding in northern Thailand
- Sabalenka targets world number one and Wuhan hat-trick
- Toddler among 4 dead in migrant Channel crossings
- Tunisia votes with Saied set for re-election
- Bagnaia sets 'example' with Japan MotoGP win to cut gap on Martin
- Intense Israeli bombing rocks Beirut ahead of war anniversary
- Mozambique vote: no suspense but some disillusion
- Austrian rapper channels anti-racist rage in Romani hip-hop songs
- Ohtani magic powers Dodgers over Padres in MLB playoff thriller
- Five of the best: Pakistan-England Test thrillers
- Man sets arm on fire as marches across US mark Gaza war anniversary
- Vietnam's young coffee entrepreneurs brew up a revolution
- Trump rallies at site of failed assassination: 'Never quit'
- Too hot by day, Dubai's floodlit beaches are packed at night
- Is music finally reckoning with #MeToo?
- Fans hail Trump's 'guts' as he returns to site of rally shooting
- Lebanon state media says 'very violent' Israeli strikes hit south Beirut
- Guardians maul Tigers, miracle Mets rally in MLB series openers
- Lebanon state media says Israeli strikes hit south Beirut
- Miami on track for MLS record points after win in Toronto
- Madrid beat Villarreal but Carvajal suffers knee injury
- Madrid beat Villarreal to move level with Liga leaders Barcelona
- Monaco take top spot in Ligue 1 with win at Rennes
- French rugby player on rape charge whistled but 'serene' on return
- Madrid beat Villarreal to level Liga leaders Barca
- Thuram treble fires Inter past Torino and up to second
- 'Fight': defiant Trump jets in to site of rally shooting
- Toddler among 3 dead in migrant Channel crossings
- Mexico City's new mayor sworn in with pledges on water, housing
- Israel on alert ahead of Hamas attack anniversary
- Guardians maul Tigers in MLB playoff series opener
- Macron criticises Israel on Gaza, Lebanon operations
- French rugby player whistled but 'serene' on return amid ongoing rape case
- Kovacic stars as Man City sink Fulham to get title bid back on track
- Retegui hat-trick fires five-star Atalanta to hammering of Genoa
- Heavyweights Australia, England off to World Cup winning starts
- Visiting UN refugee agency chief decries 'terrible crisis' in Lebanon
- Spinners come to party as England defeat Bangladesh at T20 World Cup
- Search continues for missing in deadly Bosnia floods
- Man City sink Fulham to get title bid back on track
- France's Auradou whistled on Pau return in Perpignan loss amid ongoing rape case
- A 'forgotten' valley in storm-hit North Carolina, desperate for help
- Arsenal hit back in style after Southampton scare
- Thousands march for Palestinians ahead of Oct 7 anniversary
- Hezbollah heir apparent Safieddine out of contact after strikes
- Liverpool stay top of Premier League as Arsenal, Man City win
- In dank Tour of Emilia, Pogacar shines in rainbow jersey
- DR Congo launches mpox vaccination drive, hoping to curb outbreak
Japan Moon probe survives second lunar night
Japan's Moon lander woke up after unexpectedly surviving a second frigid, two-week lunar night and transmitted new images back to Earth, the country's space agency said Thursday.
The unmanned Smart Lander for Investigating Moon (SLIM) probe touched down in January, making Japan only the fifth nation to reach the lunar surface without crashing.
But the lightweight spacecraft landed at a wonky angle that left its solar panels facing the wrong way.
The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency announced the probe's latest surprise awakening in a post on X, formerly Twitter.
"We received a response from SLIM last night and confirmed that SLIM had successfully completed its second overnight," it said.
A black-and-white photo of the rocky surface of a crater accompanied the post on SLIM's official account.
"Since the sun was still high in the sky... and the equipment was still hot, we recorded images of the usual scenery with the navigational camera, among other activities, for a short period of time," it said.
Thursday's news came after an uncrewed American lander called Odysseus -- the first private spaceship to successfully land on the Moon -- had failed to wake up.
Its manufacturer, the Houston-based Intuitive Machines, had hoped the lander might revive like Japan's SLIM, but on Saturday declared the lander's mission over.
The Intuitive Machines spaceship also landed at the wrong angle but was able to complete several tests and send back photos before the most recent lunar night began.
- 'Moon Sniper' -
JAXA has dubbed SLIM the "Moon Sniper" for its precision landing technology.
The aim of its mission was to examine a part of the Moon's mantle -- the usually deep inner layer beneath its crust -- believed to be accessible at the crater where it landed.
About three hours after its nail-biting touchdown on January 20, JAXA switched the lander off remotely to save power, having received technical and image data from its descent.
As the sun's angle shifted, the probe came back to life in late January for two days and carried out scientific observations of a crater with a high-spec camera.
JAXA says the spacecraft was "not designed for the harsh lunar nights", when the temperature plunges below minus 130 degrees Celsius (-200 degrees Fahrenheit).
So scientists had cause for celebration when SLIM successfully woke up in late February against the odds.
The SLIM saga has been a boon for the space agency after a string of high-profile failures, including two previous Japanese lunar missions -- one public and one private.
The country unsuccessfully sent a lunar probe named Omotenashi as part of the United States' Artemis 1 mission in 2022.
Then in April 2023, Japanese startup ispace lost communication with its craft after what it described as a "hard landing".
This year Japan's space fortunes have also been mixed.
In February JAXA toasted a successful blast-off for its new flagship H3 rocket.
But two weeks ago a different rocket made by the Tokyo-based company Space One exploded into flames in a spectacular failure for the start-up's bid to put a satellite into orbit.
Y.Kobayashi--AMWN