India’s lander and rover, which made history last month by becoming the first spacecraft to soft-land on the Moon’s south pole, did not ‘wake up’ after being put down.
The Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) has so far failed to re-establish contact with both the Vikram lander and Pragyan rover. The lander and rover are part of Chandrayaan-3‘s ground-breaking mission.
ISRO said on Friday that “no signal was received” from Vikram and Pragyan, raising concerns about the mission’s further exploration of the lunar surface.
The Indian Space Research Organization says that ‘attempts have been made to establish contact with the Vikram lander and Pragyan rover to determine their wake status.’
India made history on August 23 with its soft landing on the Moon’s south pole. The mission reached another milestone a few hours later when the rover exited the lander module to explore the lunar surface.
About a week later, the rover, moving at a slow speed of about 10 centimeters (four inches) per second, detected the ‘obscure’ presence of sulfur and other elements near the south pole and looked for signs of frozen water on the moon’s surface. .
One of the instruments on the lander then recorded an earthquake on the moon that ‘seems natural.’ ISRO said on August 31 that ‘investigations are underway’ to find out the cause of the earthquake.
Meanwhile, another instrument on the mission made the first measurements of the plasma atmosphere on the surface of the Moon’s south pole. ISRO says that these observations could ‘improve’ the design of communication systems for ‘future lunar landers’.
ISRO hopes to expand the scope of the rover and lander after the main objective of the mission is to demonstrate India’s ‘landing and roving versatility’ by landing on the Moon’s south pole. The lander and rover are designed to one day operate on the moon. A lunar day is about 14 Earth days.
ISRO launched the rover on September 2. Two days later, Lander was also shot down. They were expected to be awakened around September 22.
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Earlier, ISRO said in a statement that the rover has completed its mission. It is safely parked and locked.’
ISRO further said that the instruments on board have been turned off and the data it collected has been transferred to the lander.
According to ISRO: ‘Currently the battery is fully charged. The orientation of the solar panel is set to capture light at the next sunrise, expected on September 22, 2023. The receiver is turned on. Hoping for a successful launch (of the lander and rover) for further work!’
Although the rover and lander pair have achieved the primary objectives of the Chandrayaan-3 mission, ISRO hopes the agency can survive the extremely cold lunar night.
The space agency says efforts to establish contact “with the lander and rover” will continue.
AS Kiran Kumar, former ISRO chief, told the British Broadcasting Corporation on Monday that the chances of the rover and lander waking up were ‘working with each passing hour.’
“Until the transmitter on the lander is turned on, we cannot communicate with it,” he said. He has to tell us that he is alive. Even if all the other subsystems are working, we have no way of knowing.’
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