India encountered a new problem after successfully landing on the Moon last August. Lander Vikram and rover Pragyaan reportedly lost contact since last week.
When they landed, they both entered sleep mode which was planned to last until September 22 or when the sun rose there. However, Vikram and Pragyaan ‘didn’t wake up again’.
Based on a report by The Guardian , a team from the Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) has not been able to make contact with the two. Communication continues and they hope that Vikram and Pragyaan can wake up again.
“Efforts to establish communication with the Vikram lander and the Pragyaan rover will continue,” ISRO said in a tweet, quoted from Futurism, Wednesday (27/9/2023).
Communication will continue until sunset on Saturday (30/9/2023). ISRO head AS Kiran Kumar explained that his team needed a transmitter from Vikram to communicate.
Vikram and Pragyaan have to survive in the very cold conditions of the Moon. There is still a possibility that the two of them will wake up again.
Futurism noted that two Chinese explorers, Chang’e 4 and Yutu-2, managed to wake up from sleep mode more than once.
The two robots are actually planned to spend 14 Earth days or one day on the Moon to collect some data on the Moon’s structure. Both batteries are expected to run out when the sun sets there.
Last August, India became the fourth country in the world to successfully land on the Moon. Another achievement is being the first country to land on the tip of the Earth’s satellite.
Two hours after landing, ISRO uploaded photos from the Chandrayaan-3 aircraft. The photo depicts the surface of the Moon as the plane descends.
Source : CNBC