Indian Space Research Organisation is set to establish contact with Chandrayaan 3 Lander and Rover which were put on sleep mode after 14 days when the sun set on Moon. When the lunar day breaks on the Moon tomorrow the solar panels on Lander Vikram and Rover Pragyan will charge their batteries.
The focus is on the Shiv Shakti point on the moon where the two payloads are asleep right now near the South pole of the Moon. When the new dawn breaks on Moon, ISRO ground stations will try to revive the modules and on board scientific instruments after the optimum sunshine is available.
This is possible if the onboard electronics withstood the extremely cold night time temperatures on Moon that drops below minus 200 degrees Celsius. In its previous stint of 14 days in August, the Lander and Rover had transmitted crucial scientific data and observations to the ground stations. It confirmed the presence of sulphur and other minerals. The Lander module also succeeded in the hop experiment when the module jumped 40 cm from the surface and landed safely about 30 to 40 cm away from its original location. This proved the ISRO capability to get the lander to fire its engines and produce the thrust. In the days to come this capability will help ISRO to get back to Earth its modules after collecting samples from the Moon.
