Pragyan Rover sleep countdown: 1 day to go for ISRO to bring Chandrayan-3 mission to life at Shiv Shakti point

In a few hours, the Sun will rise on the Shiv Shakti point on the Moon. It's a big moment for the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO). They've been working tirelessly and now the countdown is on to to wake up Pragyan rover sleeping on the Moon for the last 15 days now. Will ISRO be able to disturb Pragyan Rover from its sleep to continue the Chandrayaan mission. If Pragyan Rover was strong enough to withstand the tough lunar night with temperatures of -200 degrees and wakes up, then it would be a miracle indeed. Know what ISRO plans as the reboot countdown is on. Know that just one day is left for Pragyan to be woken up as per ISRO schedule.

The 'Reboot' Plan

ISRO scientists have a plan to give the lunar explorer a fresh start. They are going to try something like a "reboot" perhaps as early as today, which is Thursday, and the latest by Friday depending on what the technology is telling them. It will likely happen tomorrow. If successful, this Pragyan Rover reboot could make the Chandrayaan-3 mission even more triumphant than it already is for India.

ISRO took to social media platform X (formerly Twitter), stating, "Sunrise is expected to have occurred at the Shiv Shakti point today, and soon Vikram and Pragyan will be receiving usable amounts of sunlight! #ISRO will now wait for them to heat up above a certain temperature before beginning attempts to re-establish communications with them on 22nd Sept."

Sunrise at Shiv Shakti Point

ISRO is crossing its fingers for the Sun to rise at the Shivshakti Point where the Pragyan rover is parked. As soon as the Moon's day begins, these machines should come back to life, saysISRO Chairman S. Somanath.

The big day for trying to wake them up is September 21 and 22, during the lunar dawn. "We can only hope to see them come back to life on September 22," says Somanath.

ISRO scientists have been working step by step to put the instruments on Vikram and Pragyan to sleep before the lunar night begins. This started on September 2. But they made sure to keep the batteries charged and positioned the solar panels to catch the first rays of sunlight.

The Challenge of Extreme Cold

The biggest challenge now is to bring Pragyan back to action after surviving extremely cold temperatures of -200 degrees Celsius on the Moon. If everything goes well, It will wake up and continue sending information from the Moon for the next two weeks.

Once they wake up, the Pragyan rover, it will start moving on ISRO's command. Later, they will try the same thing with the Vikram Lander module, which is stationed nearby.