Chandrayaan-3: ISRO Says Yet To Re-Establish Contact With Vikram Lander And Pragyan

ISRO announced that efforts are underway to establish communication with the Chandrayaan-3 mission's Vikram lander and Pragyan rover.

ISRO's Chandrayaan-3 lunar mission

Source : PTI Images

The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) announced on Friday that efforts are underway to establish communication with the Vikram lander and Pragyan rover as part of the Chandrayaan-3 mission. However, as of the latest update, no signals have been received from the lunar duo. ISRO reiterated its commitment to continuing its efforts to re-establish contact with the spacecraft.

Nilesh Desai, Director of Space Applications Centre, disclosed, "...Efforts are on to establish contact with the Lander and the Rover. It will automatically revive and send signals. Till now, no signals have come..." Desai also acknowledged that the mission's success hinges on a 50-50 chance, depending on whether the electronic systems can withstand the harsh cold temperatures.

#WATCH | Bharuch, Gujarat: On Chandrayaan-3, Director of Space Applications Centre, Nilesh Desai says, "...Efforts are on to establish a contact with the Lander and the Rover. It will automatically revive and send signals. Till now, no signals have come...It has a 50-50 chance if… pic.twitter.com/dAv16XD5QH

— ANI (@ANI) September 22, 2023

Earlier plans to reactivate the rover and lander, which were originally scheduled for September 22 evening, have been pushed back to September 23, according to Desai.

"#Chandrayaan3 Update: For the last several hours, Team #ISRO making best effort to establish contact with the Vikram lander and Pragyan rover to ascertain their wake-up condition after the sunrise on Moon," posts Union Minister of State (Independent Charge) Science & Technology… pic.twitter.com/G9V6HKSTxf

— Press Trust of India (@PTI_News) September 22, 2023

Chandrayaan-3 Mission:
Efforts have been made to establish communication with the Vikram lander and Pragyan rover to ascertain their wake-up condition.

As of now, no signals have been received from them.

Efforts to establish contact will continue.

— ISRO (@isro) September 22, 2023

Desai told news agency ANI, "We had initially scheduled the reactivation of the Pragyan rover and Vikram lander for the evening of September 22. However, due to unforeseen circumstances, we have rescheduled this critical operation for September 23."

Desai said that the plan was to reactivate the rover and lander in order to move the rover further on the Moon's surface. He said, "We had a plan to move the rover to almost 300-350 metres. But due to some reasons we couldn't. The rover has moved 105 metres till now. Last time, we moved it for 10 days on the surface of the moon."

#WATCH | Anand, Gujarat: On Chandrayaan-3, Director of Space Applications Centre, Nilesh Desai says, "...Earlier we planned to reactivate the (Pragyan) rover and (Vikram) lander on the evening of 22nd September, but due to some reasons we will now do it tomorrow on 23rd… pic.twitter.com/bvFTkXpNjZ

— ANI (@ANI) September 22, 2023

The mission's Vikram lander and Pragyan rover made a successful landing on the moon's surface on August 23, marking their touchdown at the designated location now known as 'Shiv Shakti Point'. Following their successful lunar activities and experiments, both the rover and lander were placed into a sleep mode earlier this month. The rover entered sleep mode on September 2, followed by the lander on September 4, in preparation for the upcoming reactivation process on September 23.