Sep 23, 2023, 03:02 PM
India fails to re-establish communication with its Moon probe
New Delhi, Sep 22 (EFE).- The Indian space agency reported on Friday that it tried, without success so far, to re-establish communication with the probe it sent a month ago to the south pole of the Moon, ending the hope that the vehicle could withstand the low temperatures of the lunar night.
“Efforts have been made to establish communication with the Vikram lander and Pragyan rover to ascertain their wake-up condition. As of now, no signals have been received from them. Efforts to establish contact will continue,” the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) posted on social media platform X, formerly Twitter.
Last month, ISRO became the first country to successfully make a soft landing on the south pole of the Moon with its Chandrayaan-3 mission, which successfully achieved its objectives during the initial 14 Earth days, equivalent to half a lunar day, on the Moon’s surface.
The mission’s Vikram lander and Pragyan explorer were put to sleep on Sep. 4 as night dawned on the region it operated on the Moon.
However, there was uncertainty about the possibility of these to resume functioning after facing extremely low temperatures of the lunar night which can go as low as -200 degrees Celsius.
Moreover, its battery needed to remain at a certain level to be able to recharge again with the solar dawn.
India is the fourth country to be able to successfully land on the Moon, after the United States, the former Soviet Union and China.
The Indian mission coincided with Russia’s attempt to reach the lunar south pole. It was expected to reach shortly before Chandrayaan-3 despite having taken off much later. However it crashed due to technical problems.
New Delhi, Sep 22 (EFE).- The Indian space agency reported on Friday that it tried, without success so far, to re-establish communication with the probe it sent a month ago to the south pole of the Moon, ending the hope that the vehicle could withstand the low temperatures of the lunar night.
“Efforts have been made to establish communication with the Vikram lander and Pragyan rover to ascertain their wake-up condition. As of now, no signals have been received from them. Efforts to establish contact will continue,” the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) posted on social media platform X, formerly Twitter.
Last month, ISRO became the first country to successfully make a soft landing on the south pole of the Moon with its Chandrayaan-3 mission, which successfully achieved its objectives during the initial 14 Earth days, equivalent to half a lunar day, on the Moon’s surface.
The mission’s Vikram lander and Pragyan explorer were put to sleep on Sep. 4 as night dawned on the region it operated on the Moon.
However, there was uncertainty about the possibility of these to resume functioning after facing extremely low temperatures of the lunar night which can go as low as -200 degrees Celsius.
Moreover, its battery needed to remain at a certain level to be able to recharge again with the solar dawn.
India is the fourth country to be able to successfully land on the Moon, after the United States, the former Soviet Union and China.
The Indian mission coincided with Russia’s attempt to reach the lunar south pole. It was expected to reach shortly before Chandrayaan-3 despite having taken off much later. However it crashed due to technical problems.
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