“Revival of Vikram, Pragyan automatic”: ISRO scientist on waking up Chandrayaan-3

Bharuch (Gujarat) [India]: As Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) preps to revive Chandrayaan-3’s Vikram lander and rover from ‘sleep mode’ after almost two weeks, Nilesh M Desai, Director, Space Applications Centre (SAC) on Friday said that the ‘revival’ of the lander and the rover is “automatic” and cannot be nudged from the Earth.

The Director of the Space Applications Centre, one of the major centres of the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO), said that signals will come as soon as the solar-powered lander and rover are charged because of the sunrise, which happened in the lunar surface on September 22.

However, Desai said that till now no signals have come and that the efforts to establish contact with the Chandrayaan-3’s lander Vikram and the rover Pragyan are underway.

“As it is clear in ISRO’s tweet, efforts are on to establish contact with the Lander and the Rover. It will automatically revive and send signals. Till now, no signals have come,” the ISRO scientist told media.

Both the lander and the rover were put into sleep mode earlier this month on September 4 and 2 respectively, ahead of the lunar night setting in on Earth’s only natural satellite.

Desai said that on September 22, dawn broke on the moon and people would be informed once signals were recieved.

Observing a 50-50 per cent chance of the revival, the scientist further said that if the electronics survive the cold temperature we will recieve signals. “Otherwise, the mission has already done its job,” he added.

The scientist added that if the lander and rover are revived, experiments on the moon’s surface will continue.

Meanwhile, Padma Shri awardee and former ISRO scientist, Mylswamy Annadurai said, “…I am pretty hopeful about Pragyan because it has been tested…But, with respect to Lander, we will have to wait and see…” on ISRO’s attempt to revive Vikram Lander and Pragyan Rover of Chandrayaan-3.

After a 40-day journey into space, the Chandrayaan-3 lander, ‘Vikram’, touched down on August 23 at the uncharted lunar South Pole making India the first country to do so. After transversing over 100 meters on the lunar surface from the Shiv Shakti Point, the touchdown spot of the lander Vikram on the lunar surface, the rover Pragyan was safely parked and set into sleep mode on September 2.