With no signal received currently from either, the Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) will wait another 14 days to establish contact with Chandrayaan-3’s Vikram Lander and Pragyan rover

With the sun rising on the Moon for next fifteen days, ISRO scientists are working day and night to revive Chandrayaan-3’s Vikram lander and Pragyan rover after a 15-day-sleep. 

ISRO scientists had initially planned to perform the ‘reboot’ of the modules today, but due to unspecified reasons, the reaction had been postponed by a day.

Nilesh Desai, Director of Space Applications Centre said that ‘Earlier we planned to reactivate the (Pragyan) rover and (Vikram) lander on the evening of 22nd September, but due to some reasons we will now do it tomorrow on September 23.’

This reboot might help extend operations over and above an entirely successfully complete mission. 

Desai added that significant data was taken by the rover and was received by ISRO. ‘The data has been archived and the scientists are working on it,’ he said.

Desai said that the plan was to reactivate the rover and lander in order to move the rover further on the Moon’s surface. He said, ‘We had a plan to move the rover to almost 300-350 metres. But due to some reasons we couldn’t. The rover has moved 105 metres till now. Last time, we moved it for 10 days on the surface of the moon.’

ISRO is hoping when the sun rises on the ‘Shivshakti Point,’ (named landing point) where the lander and rover are parked, the equipment should come back to life, said ISRO Chairman S Somanath.

The reboot is scheduled to happen during the time of lunar dawn.

‘We can only hope to see the equipment back to life on September 22,’ Mr Somanath had earlier said.

‘Success of wake-up call, something we have to wait and see,’ Ex-ISRO chief on 2nd phase of Chandrayaan-3

Ahead of the second phase of the Chandrayaan-3 lunar mission, former ISRO chief K Sivan expressed optimism and said that the success of the wakeup call regarding the Vikram lander and Pragyan rover is something which ‘we have to wait and see.’

Speaking to ANI on the second phase of the Chandrayaan-3 lunar mission, Mr Sivan said, ‘The success of the wake-up call is something we will have to wait and see. Now the lunar day starts soon, so they will try to wake up soon. All the systems are functioning, it will be alright.’

‘It all depends on the system, there are mechanical systems, solar panels, batteries all these do not have a problem. However, the minute electric components like transmitters and receivers, whether they survive the cold temperature that we will have to see. If they survive, then definitely we will be able to wake them up,’ Mr Sivan added.

How ‘Vikram’ and ‘Pragyan’ were put to sleep

The equipment on-board Vikram lander and Pragyan rover were put to sleep in a phased manner on September 2, ISRO said.

The batteries of the modules for ‘Pragyan and Vikram,’ powered by sunlight, were left charged.

The solar panels on the modules were also oriented in a way that they receive light at first dawn and ‘come back to life’

The major challenge is to ascertain whether the duo have been able to survive the freezing -200 degree Celsius of temperature in the southern region of the moon.

If the onboard instruments survive the low temperatures, the modules can continue their mission to send information from the moon for another fourteen days.

If things go as per the plan, the rover will start moving after the commands will be fed into the rover.

Later, the same procedure will be repeated on the lander module.

What have been Chandrayaan-3’s discoveries so far on the moon?

The first set of data collected from the lunar topsoil and up to a depth of 10cm (4 inches) below the surface from a probe onboard the Vikram lander showed a sharp difference in temperatures just above and below the surface.

The lunar environment blows hot and cold. While the temperature on the moon’s surface was nearly 60 degrees Celsius, it plummeted sharply below the surface, dropping to -10 degrees Celsius at just 80 mm (around 3 inches) below the ground.

The moon is known for its extreme temperatures, according to NASA, temperatures near the lunar equator reach a boiling 120 degree Celsius during the day, while night temperatures can plunge to -130 degrees Celsius.

In fact even in regions that remain permanently in the dark such as the many craters on the surface, temperatures of -250 degrees Celsius have been recorded in the past.

This could mean temperature-controlled space colonies would be the need to keep heat and cold and radiation out. T

Scientists say that this wide variation in temperature could mean an indicator of the presence of water ice below the surface, as it shows that moon’s soil, or lunar regolith, is a very good insulator.

How the moon was formed and evolved over time

A laser detector mounted on the Pragyan rover measured the chemicals present on the lunar surface near the south pole and found a host of chemicals including aluminium, calcium, iron, chromium, titanium, manganese, silicon and oxygen.

But the most important of the findings, scientists say, relate to sulphur.

The detectors first in situ measurement ‘unambiguously confirmed’ the presence of sulphur, ISRO had said.

Sulphur’s presence on the Moon has been known to NASA since Apollo missions in the 1970s, but scientists say the fact that the Pragyan rover has measured sulphur on the lunar surface itself, and not inside a mineral or as part of a crystal, makes it a revelation and ‘a tremendous accomplishment.’

It will add to our knowledge of how the Moon was formed, how it evolved and its geography as sulphur is associated with volcanic activity.

Sulphur also indicates the presence of water ice on the lunar surface and being a good fertiliser, it can help grow plants for future moon habitats.

If the lander and rover wake up, scientists say it will hunt for hydrogen among other things.

Did the Vikram lander really detect a Moonquake?

The Vikram lander carries an instrument that measures vibrations emanating from its own experiments as well as those from the rover and its activities.

The Instrument for Lunar Seismic Activity (ILSA), comprising six high-sensitivity accelerometers, recorded a seemingly natural moonquake on August 26, 2023, though the source is being investigated. 

While ILSA had its ear to the ground, it also recorded ‘an event, appearing to be a natural one’ and was investigating its source, ISRO said.

Triangulating the origin of the mystery quakes in the past, researchers in the US realized they could have come from the Apollo 17 lunar lander base, which expands and vibrates each morning as it becomes heated by the sun.

When they went to the moon, Apollo astronauts placed seismometers on the surface. Those instruments strikingly revealed that the moon experiences moonquakes, just as the Earth experiences earthquakes.

Scientists have since determined there are four types of moonquakes: Deep, shallow, thermal and meteorite impacts. 

The seismometers recorded data from October 1976 to May 1977 and recorded thermal quakes caused by the moon’s intense temperature changes.

What ILSA is picking up could be any of the five types of quakes.