Vikram landing on the moon (photographed by Pragyan rover)
Isro
The Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) is scanning for signals from the Chandrayaan-3 mission to the moon, but so far there are no signs that the Vikram lander and Pragyan spacecraft are waking up after two weeks of harsh conditions. has not been seen. A long moonlit night. If the attempt fails, the hardware may have succumbed to the moon’s freezing conditions.
“Efforts have been made to establish communication with the Vikram lander and the Pragian spacecraft to ascertain their state of wakefulness. At present, no signals are being received from them. Establishing contact Efforts will continue for this purpose,” ISRO said. Tweeted on September 22nd.
The agency launched Chandrayaan-3 in July, and Vikram touched down on the surface on August 23, after which it released the Pragyan rover and successfully covered about 100 meters of the surface.
Scientific experiments were successfully carried out on both devices, and Vikram also performed a “hop” maneuver in which it took off to an altitude of 40 centimeters, traveled the same distance laterally and landed again. The test was designed to provide ISRO engineers with valuable data for future landings.
On a lunar day, about two weeks into the mission, both devices entered “sleep mode” in preparation for sunset and subsequent freezing conditions of -238°C that could destroy electronic components. .
The mission is At this point it’s officially over. The science payload was switched off, all data was transmitted to Earth via the lander, and the lander’s solar panels were aimed in the perfect position to start generating electricity at the next sunrise. In recent days, the moon’s terminator (the dividing line between night and day) has advanced beyond the landing site, and the sun is now increasing its angle to the point where solar panels can start producing energy.
Both the rover and lander are designed to collect solar power when available, power up, and resume communication with Earth, unless the hardware is damaged by the cold. ISRO engineers said they are confident that the rover and lander will be able to power up again when the sun rises again in another two weeks and continue conducting science and surface exploration, but they will face He emphasized that the situation was extremely difficult. Certain components are challenging.
“This continued cold weather may have caused problems with the equipment, and it may take longer to warm up than previously planned, especially if the rover is in the shadow of rocks,” he said. To tell. sarah casewell At the University of Leicester, UK. “This mission was originally intended to operate on the lunar surface for only 14 days, which it did and that goal was achieved. Therefore, waking up the spacecraft to further explore the lunar surface is This will be a great accomplishment for the mission team and its engineers.”
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