ISRO's Chandrayaan-3: Reviving Vikram lander and Pragyan rover at lunar sunrise
The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) is preparing to revive the Vikram lander and Pragyan rover of the Chandrayaan-3 mission after two weeks of dormancy during the lunar night. ISRO scientists are hopeful that the equipment will come back to life when the sun rises on the Shivshakti Point. If successful, the modules could continue collecting data from the lunar surface for another 14 days. However, the process is challenging due to the extremely low temperatures on the lunar surface, which can drop to as low as -200°C. Unlike previous spacecraft, the Chandrayaan-3 lander and rover do not have radioisotope heating units (RHUs) to maintain the necessary temperature for equipment functioning. ISRO is working on developing RHUs for future interplanetary missions.