ISRO had earlier sent requests a day ago to 'wake up' these devices to carry out further research on the lunar surface.
The Vikram lander and the Pragyan surface rover are the two main components of the Chandrayaan-3 spacecraft that India launched into space in July, landing on the southern part of the Moon on August 23.
A photo of the Vikram lander module on the lunar surface taken by the navigation camera on the Pragyan rover on August 30. (Photo: ANI)
After a period of “sleep” when the lunar surface entered the dark phase, the two devices were expected to be activated again. However, many opinions say that Vikram and Pragyan may never be able to be activated again. ISRO has not received any signals from the two devices as of the evening of September 22. Communication efforts are still continuing.
Scientists have warned that the chances of reactivating the Vikram lander and Pragyan rover at the lunar south pole are slim. The extreme cold at night can drop below minus 220 degrees Celsius, causing electronic components to freeze. Not that ISRO can’t provide the two devices with heating features to restart them, but adding such features would complicate the lunar surface exploration program.
The main objective of the Chandrayaan-3 programme is to demonstrate that India can perform a soft landing on the Moon. The spacecraft can be protected from the extreme cold of space in a number of ways. For example, one can add a radioisotope thermoelectric generator (RTG), in which the radioactive decay of Plutonium-238 will help release heat.
Phan Tung (VOV-New Delhi)
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