BackChandrayaan 3: Ex-ISRO chief shares concern over Vikram, Pragyan waking up, ‘it's like checking something from freezer’
Former ISRO Chairman G Madhavan Nair says Vikram Lander and Pragyan Rover have been in deep sleep for two weeks. Concerns about survival in extreme temperatures. If conditions are met, system may be operational again. Possibility of collecting more data on moon's surface.
PremiumAs the second phase of the Chandrayaan-3 lunar mission is about to begin with Pragyan Rover and Vikram lander awakening, ISRO Chairman G Madhavan Nair shared a genuine concern ‘seems like checking something from the freezer’.
Nair told news agency ANI, "Vikram Lander and Pragyan Rover have been in deep sleep for almost two weeks now. It is almost like checking out something from the freezer and then trying to use it. The temperatures would have gone beyond -150 degrees Celsius.
“At that temperature how the batteries, electronics and the mechanism survive is really a concern."
However there is still hope, he pointed out saying, “Of course, adequate tests have been done on the ground to establish that it will work even after such a condition. Still, we have to keep our fingers crossed. The solar heat will warm up the instruments and also the charger batteries. If both these conditions are successfully met, it is a fairly good chance that the system will be operational again."
“Once it is operational, it is quite possible that we can move around for some more distance over the next 14 days and collect more data on the surface of the moon near the lunar south pole."
Apparently, in thee second phase, Chandrayaan-3's lander and rover modules – Vikram and Pragyan – will wake up from their 14-day lunar slumber to face the sun rays.
Speaking about it, Union Minister Jitendra Singh said, all efforts were being made to awaken Vikram and Pragyan from their sleep. "When we sleep on earth tonight, Vikram and Pragyan will perhaps wake up on the Moon," Singh said.
Making history, India's Vikram lander touched down near the south pole of the moon on August 23, successfully completing one of the Chandrayaan-3 mission's main objectives of soft landing on the lunar surface.
Singh said Vikram and Pragyan carried out experiments on the lunar surface since they landed on the Moon on August 23 and were put to sleep on September 4 with batteries fully charged and solar panels placed to catch the rays of the sun after the sunrise near the Moon's south pole.
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