The Vikram lander and Pragyan rover on Chandrayaan-3 are anticipated to awaken around September 22. On September 4, the lander and rover were put into sleep mode.
Chandrayaan-3: On August 23, Chandrayaan-3, India’s lunar mission, successfully landed on the lunar surface. Since then, research on the surface have been undertaken by Chandrayaan-3’s Vikram lander and Pragyan rover, and numerous findings have been made public.
The Vikram lander and Pragyan rover were put into sleep mode on September 4 after all the in-situ lunar surface tests were completed over the course of 14 Earth days. According to the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO), the lander and rover are anticipated to awaken around September 22.
On September 22, will Vikram lander awaken once more?
As the sun fell on the moon, the Pragyan rover was put into sleep mode. According to ISRO, the Vikram lander carried all of the payloads’ data back to Earth.
The next sunrise on the Moon is anticipated to occur on September 22. The battery of Chandrayaan-3 is fully charged, and the solar panel will receive light at that time. Although Vikram and Pragyan were intended to live for one lunar day (14 days on Earth), they can yet awaken at the following sunrise. They will “forever stay there as India’s lunar ambassador,” ISRO stated on X, if they do not awaken by September 22.
The Pragyan rover slid out of the lander hours after landing and began walking on the lunar dirt, becoming the first spacecraft to ever set foot on the South Pole of the Moon, while the Vikram lander stayed where it had landed.
Why was Vikram Lander rendered unconscious?
On September 4, the Vikram lander was placed in sleep mode so that it could withstand the hostile lunar night. The Moon experiences a 14-day period of total darkness and a near-freezing temperature of -200 degrees during lunar night. The likelihood of technological equipment surviving in such a hostile environment is relatively low.
Radioisotope heater units (RHUs), which are part of the Pragyan rover, radiate heat passively to maintain a stable working temperature for the spacecraft’s gear. These heaters, which turn heat from the radioactive decay of plutonium or polonium into electricity, are crucial components of space missions.