Chandrayaan-3, India is waiting for signals from the (still dormant) lander on the Moon
India continues efforts to communicate with its Chandrayaan-3 sleeper lander on the Moon. Hopes for the revival of the lunar lander are fading with each passing hour
The Chandrayaan-3 mission kept India in suspense last month until the successful moon landing and now continues to do so as the Vikram lander and Pragyan rover fail to "wake up".
On August 23, the world's most populous country made history with the moon landing of its Chandrayaan-3 probe with the aim of collecting scientific data on the Moon. The Chandrayaan-3 mission "successfully carried out a soft moon landing", the Indian Space Research Organization (Isro) had announced on the X social network.
India had launched its lunar mission on July 14 from the Satish Dhawan Space Center in Sriharikota, in the state of Andhra Pradesh. A record for New Delhi, which joins the elite club of those who have successfully carried out a controlled moon landing together with the United States, Russia and China, four years after a failed attempt in 2019.
On September 2, the Vikram lander and Pragyan rover were put into “sleep mode” to protect their electrical components during the freezing two-week lunar night. But now Isro's hopes are slowly fading for Chandrayaan-3 as the mission failed to activate in the days after sunrise on the Moon.
All the details.
INDIA WAITS FOR A SIGNAL FROM VIKRAM LANDER AND PRAGYAN ROVER ON THE MOON
Last September 22, ISRO attempted to re-establish contact with its Chandrayaan-3 mission, but did not receive any signal from the lunar lander-rover duo. The space agency, however, is not giving up yet and will continue to try to establish contact with the lander-rover pair, Isro announced on X.
The chances of India's lunar lander waking up after a freezing lunar night "are decreasing with each passing hour", the country's space scientists told the BBC .
Isro said it will continue efforts to connect with the space mission until September 30, when the next lunar sunset is expected.
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
IF THE LANDER AND THE ROVER DIDN'T WAKE UP…
Before putting the lander and rover into sleep mode, ISro scientists had wanted to highlight that the Chandrayaan-3 mission was already a great success and had achieved its main objectives.
“If Vikram and Pragyaan do not wake up, they will remain on the Moon as lunar ambassadors of India,” Isro said.
The Chandrayaan-3 mission made India the first country to reach the lunar south polar region and only the fourth country to land on the Moon, affirming its position as a world leader in space exploration.
This is a machine translation from Italian language of a post published on Start Magazine at the URL https://www.startmag.it/innovazione/chandrayaan-3-india-sta-aspettando-segnali-dal-lander-ancora-dormiente-sulla-luna/ on Wed, 27 Sep 2023 05:46:30 +0000.