Pragyan Rover in trouble? ISRO reactivation delay hits Chandrayaan-3 mission

Photo Credit: ISRO

Pragyan Rover was to be revived today, on September 22, by ISRO, but the attempt has been postponed till tomorrow, hitting the historic Chandrayaan-3 mission.

Photo Credit: ISRO

Unfortunately, when ISRO tried to reactivate Vikram lander it failed to receive any signals from it. This indicates there may be something wrong with the lander on the Moon.

Photo Credit: ISRO

However, ISRO is still hopeful about the revival of Pragyan Rover. ISRO posted on X, "Chandrayaan-3 Mission: Efforts have been made to establish communication with the Vikram lander and Pragyan rover to ascertain their wake-up condition." Unfortunately, it had bad news. ISRO added, "As of now, no signals have been received from them. Efforts to establish contact will continue."

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Director of SAC, Nilesh Desai said, “ISRO's plan was to attempt to reactivate Vikram Lander and Pragyan Rover today evening, but due to some reasons they will not do it today and will attempt tomorrow.”

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The Pragyan rover had initially landed successfully on the south pole of the moon's surface on August 23 at a location that has now been designated as 'Shiv Shakti Point.'

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Pragyan rover was placed in sleep mode in early September after conducting many lunar experiments that are of historic value as they have added much that was not known before.

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During its working mode, the Pragyan rover confirmed the presence of Sulphur in the lunar surface near the south pole. The rover covered a distance of over 100 meters on the Moon.

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Chandrayaan-3 mission has already far exceeded its objectives, including the successful completion of a hop test by the Vikram lander on the moon.

Photo Credit: ISRO

If Pragyan rover can be reactivated successfully, the Chandrayaan-3 mission will receive an extended lease of life, enabling further sample collection and lunar surface exploration.