‘Like taking something out of the freezer’: ISRO Chief on reviving Chandrayaan-3's Vikram, Pragyan

As the second phase of the Chandrayaan-3 lunar mission is set to commence, concerns have been raised about the condition of the Pragyan Rover and Vikram lander, which have been in deep sleep mode for nearly two weeks.

G Madhavan Nair, former Chairman of ISRO, expressed this genuine concern, likening the situation to retrieving something from a freezer.

#WATCH | Former ISRO Chairman G Madhavan Nair says, “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… pic.twitter.com/XYvQembeHq

— ANI (@ANI) September 22, 2023

Nair explained, “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.”

Nevertheless, there is still hope, as Nair 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.”

He added, “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.”

In the second phase of the mission, Chandrayaan-3’s lander and rover modules, namely Vikram and Pragyan, will awaken from their 14-day lunar slumber to harness the energy of the sun’s rays.

It’s worth noting that India’s Vikram lander achieved a historic soft landing near the moon’s south pole on August 23, marking a significant milestone in the Chandrayaan-3 mission.

Since their landing, Vikram and Pragyan have conducted experiments on the lunar surface. They were placed in sleep mode on September 4 with fully charged batteries and positioned to capture solar energy from the sun after sunrise near the Moon’s south pole.