ISRO puts rover in hibernation mode, hopes to extend mission’s life

APXS and LIBS payloads are turned off. Data from these payloads is transmitted to the Earth via the Lander,” ISRO said in a tweet.

The Chandrayaan-3 lander and rover were expected to operate only for one Lunar day, which is equivalent to nearly 14 days on Earth. That is because the electronics are not designed to withstand very low temperatures, less than -120 degrees Celsius, during the nighttime on the Moon. The nighttime too extends for as long as 14 days on Earth. But there is a possibility that the electronics are able to survive the low temperatures and are able to power themselves again once the sunshine is available. In fact, this happened on one of the Chinese lander missions a few years ago.

ISRO chairman S Somanath, earlier in the day, had suggested that ISRO would try to extend the life of the lander and rover. “We are going to start the process of making them (lander and the rover) sleep in the next couple of days so that they can withstand the night,” Somanath said soon after the successful launch of the Aditya-L1 solar mission.

By evening that process had already been set in motion.

“Currently, the battery (on the rover) is fully charged. The solar panel is oriented to receive the light at the next sunrise expected on September 22, 2023. The receiver is kept on,” ISRO said.

An ISRO scientist said it was possible that the payloads would revive but not certain. “We are trying to keep the receiver on the lander switched on and try to maintain the battery at an optimum temperature. Whether the systems wake up after the night will depend on whether the battery lasts throughout this period,” he said.

“It is like putting your phone on power saving mode till a charging cord is available. The charging cord for the lander and rover will be sunrise at the end of the lunar night,” he said.

“Hoping for a successful awakening for another set of assignments! Else, it will forever stay there as India’s lunar ambassador,” ISRO tweeted.

Chandrayaan-3 had landed on the Moon on August 23, at the dawn time on Moon. The lunar daytime would continue till around September 6. But the lander and rover are being planned to be put on hibernation a couple of days before that.

Somanath also said the rover had so far traversed a distance of 100 metres on the lunar surface.

Four instruments onboard the lander and two on the rover have been operational since the landing and have been continuously streaming data back to the ground stations. ISRO has already released glimpses of the kind of data being collected by these instruments.