Chandrayaan-3 nears conclusion as lunar night approaches. What will happen next?

It informed that all systems performed nominally and are healthy. Deployed Ramp, ChaSTE, and ILSA were folded back and redeployed successfully after the experiment.

According to NASA’s Moon tracker, the lunar sunset commenced from the Shiv Shakti point today and will extend till September 6. The next lunar sunrise will take place on September 20, however, it may occur at the south pole on September 22. 

“The solar panel is oriented to receive the light at the next sunrise expected on September 22, 2023. The receiver is kept on. Hoping for a successful awakening for another set of assignments! Else, it will forever stay there as India’s lunar ambassador,” the space agency said. 

Last week, after transversing over 100 meters on the lunar surface from the Shiv Shakti Point, the touchdown spot of the Vikram lander, the Pragyan Rover was safely parked and set into sleep mode, ISRO said on Saturday. 

Earlier on Thursday, ISRO said that the Pragyan Rover module of the Vikram lander has recorded a natural event on the south pole of the moon.

Taking to ‘X’ (formerly Twitter), ISRO said, “Chandrayaan-3 Mission: In-situ Scientific Experiments Instrument for the Lunar Seismic Activity (ILSA) payload on Chandrayaan 3 Lander — the first Micro Electro Mechanical Systems (MEMS) technology-based instrument on the moon — has recorded the movements of Rover and other payloads. Additionally, it has recorded an event, appearing to be a natural one, on August 26, 2023. The source of this event is under investigation”.

Chandrayaan-3’s Rover ramped down from the Vikram lander to the lunar surface on August 25. 

On 23 August, the Chandrayaan-3 lander module successfully landed on the moon’s South pole, making it the first country to have achieved the historic feat. The country became the fourth– after the US, China, and Russia – to have successfully landed on the moon’s surface.

Updated: 04 Sep 2023, 12:59 PM IST