After the moon mission, the Indian lunar probe must survive

The Pragyan lunar module and the Vikram lander, part of the Chandrayaan-3 mission, have completed their mission on the moon. The duo sent by the Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) were the first to successfully reach the south pole of the natural moon. The plan is to gather information about the location to send back to Earth. However, to continue the path of space discoveries, the lunar probe must survive the entire night on the moon.

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Pragian mission

The initial mission of the Pragyan probe and the Vikram module expected the two to spend a lunar day on the moon, taking into account only the periods considered “daytime”. A full lunar day equals about 14 Earth days.

The challenge now is to survive in Part Two: The Night. This is because temperatures drop as low as -130°C and can damage equipment.

In some tasks, devices use energy to stay warm until you can return, but due to the length of time the device’s battery may run out before seeing sunlight again.

Life of the lunar probe

Still, ISRO wouldn’t give up on the lunar probe so easily, and after sending all the collected data back to Earth, left it with fully charged batteries. Now, according to the organization’s X (formerly Twitter) post, he is in resting mode and was destined for sunlight on September 22.

The rover completes its missions. It is now safely parked and put into standby mode. Currently, the battery is fully charged. The solar panel is oriented to receive light at the next sunrise scheduled for September 22, 2023. The receiver is kept on. Waiting for the successful awakening to start another set of missions!

Indian Space Research Organization

ISRO even published that if Pragyan doesn’t wake up, he will become “India’s ambassador to the moon” forever.

Vikram unit

ISRO also confirmed that the Vikram lander was set to enter sleep mode, but before that it had moved on and sent new samples back to Earth.

The organization stated in a publication that the unit “will sleep next to Bragyan.” Both of them are expected to wake up on September 22nd.

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