Chandrayaan 3: Jitendra Singh Provides Update On ISRO's Efforts To Wake Up Vikram And Pragyan
The Lander and the Rover were put into sleep mode earlier this month on September 4 and 2 respectively, ahead of the lunar night.
Union Minister Dr Jitendra Singh on Thursday said that ISRO scientists are eagerly waiting for the Vikram lander and the Pragyan rover of Chandrayaan-3 to wake up from their 14-day sleep during the lunar night.
Speaking in Lok Sabha, the Union Minister of State (Independent Charge) Science And Technology said that the 2nd phase of Chandrayaan-3 "will begin a few hours from now."
Replying to over Eight Hour Debate in the Lok Sabha, on the subject of “Success of Chandrayaan-3 and other achievements of our Nation in the Space Sector”, Dr Jitendra Singh said, "ISRO is in the process of trying to reestablish communication with Chandrayaan-3's solar-powered lander Vikram and rover Pragyan, to revive them so that they can continue with scientific experiments."
According to a PIB release, Dr. Jitendra Singh emphatically asserted that India will become the first country in the world to start the 2nd phase of the Lunar Mission after the activation of the communication circuit.
The Lander and the Rover were put into sleep mode earlier this month on September 4 and 2 respectively, ahead of the lunar night of 14 days’ duration.
He added that there is a huge variation of temperature ranging from minus 150 degrees at night to 100 degrees during day time, and therefore, we all are hoping and praying that solar batteries and solar panels will help the beginning of the unprecedented 2nd phase of moon mission.
"When we sleep on earth tonight, Vikram and Pragyan will perhaps wake up on the moon," news agency PTI quoted Singh as saying in the Lok Sabha.
"We have put both the lander and rover on sleep mode because the temperature would go as low as minus 120-200 degree celsius. From September 20 onwards, sunrise will be going on at the Moon and by September 22 we hope that the solar panel and other things will be fully charged, so we will be trying to revive both the lander and rover," ISRO's Space Applications Centre Director Nilesh Desai told PTI.
"If our luck is good, we will have revival of both lander and rover and we will get some more experimental data, which will be useful for us to further do investigation of the Moon's surface. We are eagerly waiting for activity from September 22 onwards. We hope that we are lucky enough to revive both lander and rover and get some more useful data," he said, adding that whatever data they get hereon would be a "bonus".
The lander and rover -- with a total mass of 1,752 kg -- were designed to operate for one lunar daylight period (about 14 Earth days) to study the surroundings there.
Chandrayaan-3 touched down on the lunar south pole on August 23, propelling India to an exclusive club of four and making it the first country to land on the uncharted surface.
(With PTI inputs)
