Engineers of the Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) started efforts to wake up the lunar lander and rover Chandrayaan 2 from their sleep after two weeks of lunar freeze. Isro on Friday He announced on X (former Twitter). Despite these efforts, it has not yet received any signal from its probes.
ISRO will continue its efforts to wake up its lunar probes until the next moonset on October 6. However, ISRO director Shridhara Somnath says it is not clear when communication with the Chandrayaan 3 instruments will be established.
The Chandrayaan 3 spacecraft landed near the south pole of the Moon on September 1, making India the fourth country after the United States, Russia and China to conquer the Earth’s moon. Shortly after reaching its destination, the mission’s lander Vikram deployed a small rover named Pragyan on the lunar surface.
Two weeks after landing, Pragyan explored the area around him and sent images to Earth; While Vikram conducted a series of scientific experiments, including measuring the temperature of the upper layer of the lunar regolith. This probe also analyzed the chemical composition of the lunar soil and found traces of sulfur; A discovery that may be considered clues of volcanic activity in the past.
Lunar Pragyan then turned off all instruments and went to sleep on September 2. The Vikram lander also stopped exploring the moon two days later and turned off following Pragyan. ISRO says that while the Chandrayaan 3 mission has met its primary mission objectives, it is hopeful that the two spacecraft will be able to survive the lunar night frost.
Chandrayaan 3 was India’s second attempt to land on the moon. The country’s previous lunar spacecraft, Chandrayaan 2, crashed on the moon in 2019 due to a software glitch. However, that mission’s rover is still studying the Moon from orbit.
