Chandrayaan-3: Lander, rover revival hopes virtually over as Sun sets on lunar landscape

Chandrayaan-3 news: All hopes of reviving Chandrayaan-3’s Vikram lander and Pragyan rover have been put to rest as the lunar night has set in and cast a long shadows over Shiv Shakti Point, the spacecraft’s landing site. Sunlight began receding on the Shiv Shakti Point on September 30, starting a lunar night.  

Shiv Shakti Point is located between the Manzinuz C and Simpelius N craters, around 4,200 kms from the lunar north pole. Lunar night refers to a period of darkness on the Moon’s surface that lasts for approximately 14 days. Temperatures on the lunar surface are known to dip to as low as -180 degrees Celsius during the lunar night. Vikram lander and Pragyan rover are dependent on sunlight for their functioning.  

After accomplishing their initial tasks successfully, Vikram lander and Pragyan rover of Chandrayaan-3 spacecraft entered into a state of hibernation on September 2. Since then, multiple attempts have been made to revive the lander and the rover in hopes that they might have survived the previous lunar night cycle.  

The European station in Kourou and ISRO Telemetry, Tracking and Command Network (ISTRAC) in Bengaluru had been attempting to revive the duo but to no avail. The present lunar night, however, marks an end to the mission since it is impossible for the lander and rover to survive in the harsh weather conditions.  

Despite many failed attempts to wake up the Vikram-Pragyan duo, S Somanath, chief of the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO), believes that the Chandrayaan-3 mission is largely a success as it has already accomplished its stated objectives. “It is OK if it does not wake up because the rover has done what it was expected to do,” Somanath told reporters.

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Chandrayaan-3 smooth landing, findings  

On August 23 this year, the ISRO made Indians proud as Chandrayaan-3 made a smooth landing on the Moon’s South Pole. Chandrayaan-3’s successful landing has placed India alongside countries like the US, China and Russia as one of the few countries to accomplish a safe Moon landing.  

Ever since its landing, the Vikram lander and Pragyan rover on Chandrayaan-3 have unearthed vital information from the lunar surface. Their achievements include rover’s lunar surface exploration and confirmation of presence of vital elements.  

Chandrayaan-3’s Vikram lander has detected the presence of key metals such as sulphur, aluminium, calcium, silicon, iron, oxygen, titanium, chromium, and manganese. The lander also dug deep into the Moon’s Ionosphere and measured electron densities from 5 million to 30 million per cubic metre.  

Before sharing these findings, ISRO also shared its first observations about the temperatures on the lunar surface. The space agency said that the temperature on Moon’s surface ranges from -10 degrees Celsius to 50 degrees Celsius.  

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