As the Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) continues its efforts to establish contact, hopes that the Chandrayaan-3 lander and rover will be resurrected after the long lunar night are waning.
In August, India became the fourth country to land on the Moon and the first to land near the Moon’s south pole. Since landing, the lander and rover have conducted experiments to measure the temperature at the landing site and analyze the composition of the lunar soil, stopping only briefly for photographs.
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During its first planned 14-day mission, it detected sulfur, aluminum, calcium, iron, chromium, titanium, manganese, silicon and oxygen. Sulfur is a substance of particular interest to space-going nations because it could potentially be used to make concrete. Additionally, the lander detected movement below the surface, possibly including a natural phenomenon.
Technically mission accomplished. However, before the 14-day lunar night, the rover was put into sleep mode with the hope that it could be activated again with sunrise a few weeks later. But unfortunately the sun rose over the rover and lander on Friday and there have been no signs of activity yet.
“Efforts were made to contact the Vikram lander and the Pragyan rover to detect their wake status, but no signal was received from them. Efforts to establish contact will continue,” ISRO said in a statement.
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