Vikram lander is not awake on the moon
Isro
The Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) is still trying to re-establish communications with the Chandrayaan-3 mission’s lunar lander and rover, but experts say the rover could not survive the extremely cold temperatures of the lunar night. He says his hopes are fading as suspicions grow that he may have succumbed to the virus.
ISRO’s Vikram lander touched down on the surface on August 23 and subsequently released the Pragyan probe. Both spacecraft successfully carried out scientific experiments and transmitted data to Earth, and the mission was already a great success.
But after landing, senior engineers said they were confident the spacecraft would survive the lunar night and be able to carry out further work. Approximately two weeks after the start of the mission (during his one period of lunar daylight), both devices go into “sleep mode”, preparing for an environment as low as -238°C that can destroy electronic components. I did.
After a long wait, the Lunar Terminator will pass the Chandrayaan 3 landing site around September 22, crossing the line between night and day, bathing the craft in sunlight and, in theory, recharging its battery using solar panels. It became possible to start the equipped machine. Computer again. But there were no signs of life.
ISRO tweeted on September 22 that attempts to contact the spacecraft were unsuccessful. No further updates have been provided since then and ISRO’s media office did not respond. Request for comments. Former ISRO Director AS Kiran Kumar, September 25 said to BBC This means that the possibility of awakening diminishes as time passes.
David Cullen Researchers at Cranfield University in the UK say the Chandrayaan-3 mission is designed to achieve its objective on the first day of the moon, so even if Vikram and Pragyan don’t wake up, it shouldn’t be considered a failure. It states that there is no.
He said designing a spacecraft that can withstand significant temperature changes between lunar night and day requires warmth, since batteries and electrical components can literally crack as they expand and contract. measures such as adding radioactive sources may be needed to provide this, but these also add complexity. cost and weight. In many cases, he says, it’s more practical to land leaner, simpler spacecraft that can perform science quickly before being destroyed by frigid nighttime temperatures.
“It’s a big engineering challenge to make sure it’s viable,” Cullen says. “Therefore, quite a few missions will be designed without any serious expectation of surviving under the light of the moon. And if you do manage to survive the moonlit night, a nice added bonus. It will be.”
“It seems logical to think that if you didn’t respond on the second day of the month, you’re much less likely to respond on the third day of the month,” he says.
sarah casewell Researchers at Britain’s University of Leicester say the chances of the spacecraft waking up again are low for now. “Some delays may be expected because things don’t warm up as quickly as expected or there are some pesky shadows. But by now, I think we were expecting everything to be warmer. , I think it was too cold.”
But she says the project should be considered a huge success. “They accomplished everything they set out to do,” Casewell said. “How impressive is this for a country with a relatively young space program? I think it’s just amazing and a great accomplishment.”
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