China's moon rover Yutu "awakes" and is able to pick up signals despite it is still experiencing a mechanical control abnormality, a spokesman with the country's lunar probe program said on Thursday.

Pei Zhaoyu, the spokesman, said "the rover stands a chance of being saved as it is still alive".

The rover showed abnormality before it entered its second dormancy on the moon on January 25 as the lunar night fell, prompting worries that it cannot survive the low temperatures on the moon.

(Xinhua News Agency February 12, 2014)