Chandrayaan 3: Vikram Lander, Pragyan Rover May Wake Up Today. All About Phase-2 Of Moon Mission

Chandrayaan 3 India: ISRO scientists & science enthusiasts across the globe are waiting to see whether Vikram lander and rover Pragyan wake up from sleep allowing more data collection from the Moon.

Chandryaan 3 Mission: India's historic moon mission is likely to get some more crucial details of the lunar surface to the ISRO scientists as they wait for Vikram lander and rover Pragyan to wake from deep sleep after two weeks. Chandryaan-3 made a soft landing on the south pole of the Moon, a first for any country ever, and carried out various research and other activities as planned for 14 days (one lunar day). The lander and rover went into sleep mode on September 2 for two weeks. If everything happens as planned, the Moon mission will undergo phase-2 and will collect more important data.

Now, the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) scientists are waiting for the lander and rover to get functional again. Speaking on the possibility of further work to be carried out by lander and rover, former ISRO chief G Madhavan said that the temperature at the south police may have gone beyond -150 degrees Celsius and for the batteries, electronics and mechanism to survive at this temperature is really a "concern".

"Of course, adequate tests have been done on the ground to establish that it will work even after such a condition. Still, we have to keep our fingers crossed. The solar heat will warm up the instruments and also the charger batteries. If both these conditions are successfully met, it is a fairly good chance that the system will be operational again," he told ANI.

He hoped that if it becomes operations, more data could be collected for the next 14 days as the lander travels further.

Ex-ISRO chief K Sivan said that scientists will try to establish a connection with the lander and rover and if everything functions well, it will be alright for further data collection.

"We have to wait and see. It has undergone a lunar night. Now the lunar day starts. So, now they will try to wake up. If all the systems are functioning, it will be alright...This is not the end, a lot more new Sciences will come. Even now the Chandrayaan-1's data has brought in a lot of discoveries. So, I hope that a lot of new things will come. Scientists will keep trying. So, this is not the end of the story..." Sivan said.

 

ISRO's Plans If Lander, Rover Wake Up From Deep Sleep

ISRO's Space Applications Centre Director Nilesh Desai told PTI that if the space agency is able to revive them as the Sun rises on the Moon again, information that is derived from experiments that could once again be conducted by the Chandrayaan-3 payloads would be a "bonus".

"If our luck is good, we will have revival of both lander and rover and we will get some more experimental data, which will be useful for us to further do investigation of the Moon's surface. We are eagerly waiting for activity from September 22 onwards. We hope that we are lucky enough to revive both lander and rover and get some more useful data," he said, as quoted by PTI.

Notably, both lander and rover -- with a total mass of 1,752 kg -- were designed to operate for one lunar daylight period (about 14 Earth days) to study the Moon's surroundings. However, ISRO is hoping that the lander and rover may come back to life and carry on with the experiments and studies there.