No signal yet from Chandrayaan-3, ISRO says trying

The Vikram lander and Pragyan rover of Chandrayaan-3 spacecraft, which landed on the Moon on August 23, had a mission life of one lunar day only, equivalent to about 14 days on Earth. That was because the on-board instruments and electronics were not equipped to survive the extremely frigid lunar night when temperatures drop well below -200 degree Celsius. Electronics not specifically designed to withstand extreme temperatures usually become non-functional. The lunar day had come to an end in the first week of September.

But ISRO had put the instruments to ‘sleep’ a little in advance, switching off their operations and getting their solar operated batteries fully charged in the hope that they might survive the night and become functional again when sunlight became available. A new lunar day dawned on Wednesday, but the lander and rover have so far not sent any signal of having “woken up”.

Chandrayaan-3 Mission:
Efforts have been made to establish communication with the Vikram lander and Pragyan rover to ascertain their wake-up condition.

As of now, no signals have been received from them.

Efforts to establish contact will continue.

— ISRO (@isro) September 22, 2023

The possibility of the lander and rover surviving the lunar night was never certain. In fact, ISRO had said that the chances were slim. It is also possible that even if the instruments do “wake up” and show signs of some activity, they might not be fully functional. In any case, most of the science objectives from the Chandrayaan-3 mission have been achieved, and the instruments have already collected a wealth of valuable data.

Former ISRO chairman K Sivan expressed the hope that the lander and rover module would be “woken up”.

“The success of the wake-up call (by ISRO) is something we would have to wait and see… The mechanical systems, solar panels, batteries do not have a problem (they do not fail in the cold) but the transmitters and receivers need to have survived the cold conditions. If they have survived, we will be able to wake them up. If the systems are functioning, it (the wake up call) would be alright,” he said in Vadodara where he was chief guest at the convocation of ITM University.

In any case, Sivan said, Chandrayaan-3 was not the end.