Today, the Chandrayaan-3 equipment will be placed to “sleep”

The Chandrayaan-3 lander, Vikram, and rover, Pragyan, were placed to sleep on Saturday by the Indian Space Research Organization (Isro), demonstrating the accomplishment of the mission’s main goals.
The space agency did not completely rule out the possibility that the robot and the scientific equipment could be revived when the Sun rises again on the Moon around September 22. Before that time, the equipment will be in total darkness and extremely cold temperatures, which is anticipated to be punishing for the batteries that store power.

“We have completed all of our main mission goals. The equipment will be shut off starting on September 3 just before the lunar sun sets. Our teams will now analyze the data that has been gathered, Isro Chairman S. Somanath told HT.

Pragyan had been “safely parked and set into sleep mode,” Isro stated in a tweet a few hours later.
The battery is completely charged right now. The solar panel is set up to catch the light on September 22, 2023, when the next dawn is anticipated. After noting that two of Pragyan’s equipment had been shut off and that data from them was being relayed through Vikram to Earth, it said, “The receiver is kept on.

“Wishing for a successful waking for a new set of tasks! If not, it would remain there permanently as India’s lunar ambassador, said Isro.

The Sriharikota spaceport served as the launchpad for the Chandrayaan-3 mission on July 14. India became the first nation to accomplish the feat when Vikram performed a successful soft landing close to the lunar south pole on August 23 at 6:03 p.m. The rover came out of Vikram’s stomach on August 24.

The tests started late on August 24 after the solar-powered equipment had spent a day charging its batteries. This gave the expedition about nine days to gather data.

Scientists said that although while the lunar sunset is predicted to occur around September 6, the visibility in the region where the lander is parked has begun to decline, requiring a phased approach to turning down the electronics.

The Physical Research Laboratory’s (PRL) director, Anil Bhardwaj, told HT that while there is no defined schedule for when each instrument would be put to sleep, the procedure will begin on September 3rd. The area’s lighting has begun to become dimmer, which is the issue.

Some of the equipment within the modules were created by Isro’s PRL, which is heavily engaged in the operation.

The lunar sunset will start on September 4 and last until September 6 according to the National Aeronautics and Space Administration’s (NASA) Moon Tracker. It will start from the location where Chandrayaan-3’s lander is positioned.

The NASA tracker predicts that the next lunar dawn will occur on September 20, however in the south pole, that event may occur a little later.

Bhardwaj, however, emphasized that the Indian space agency had achieved its mission objectives effectively.

He said, “We are still receiving data, and we are really pleased with both the quality and the amount of it.

If the equipment can endure the freezing temperatures during the lunar night, according to Bhardwaj, they may be able to recharge after a fortnight.

The temperature on the lunar surface varies greatly, and during lunar nights it often falls below 200 degrees Celsius. When the sun’s rays strike their solar panels again after about a week, if instruments can tolerate such temperatures, they may be able to recharge themselves. For us, it will be extra information, he added.

The first seismic readings on the Moon, the confirmation that sulphur, oxygen, and other elements are present on the lunar surface, and the documentation of temperature fluctuations below the surface are only a few of the significant discoveries that Isro has so far made from the lunar investigations.

The rover has successfully mapped a distance of more than 100 meters from the landing site of Vikram, despite Isro scientists’ expectations that it would have covered a distance of around 200 meters over the course of its mission.

The maneuvers the rover had to make to avoid craters were blamed by the scientists for this gap in distance.

The most recent Moon program, a follow-up mission to the 2019 Chandrayaan-2, has three goals: to show off a safe and gentle landing on the moon’s surface, to show off rover roaming capabilities on the lunar surface, and to perform in-situ scientific research.

India became the fourth nation after the US, the USSR, and China to successfully land on the Moon’s surface on August 23.