Engineers at the Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) have initiated efforts to awaken the Chandrayaan-3 lunar lander and rover from their hibernation following a two-week frigid lunar night.

ISRO reported on Friday (September 22) via a post on X (formerly known as Twitter) that they have been making endeavors “to establish communication with the Vikram lander and Pragyan rover to ascertain their wake-up condition.”

As of now, there has been no response from the legendary duo, which marks the first two human-made objects to touch down in the moon’s south polar region, Space.Com reported.

“Efforts to establish contact will continue,” ISRO said in the post. 

Chandrayaan-3 successfully touched down near the lunar south pole on August 23, establishing India as the fourth nation in history to achieve a lunar landing, following the United States, Russia, and China.

Over the subsequent two weeks, Pragyan embarked on an exploration of the landing site, transmitting images back to Earth, while Vikram conducted a series of scientific experiments.

These experiments encompassed temperature measurements of the lunar regolith’s upper layer and an analysis of the chemical composition of lunar dust.

Interestingly, traces of sulfur were detected in the lunar dust, potentially offering insights into previous volcanic activity on the moon.

On September 2, all of Pragyan’s instruments were powered down, placing the rover in a state of dormancy. Two days later, Vikram, the lander, also followed suit and entered a similar dormant state.

Written by staff