Chennai: Awake! Arise! Stop not till the additional goal is reached! This seems to be the message that the Indian space agency is sending to the country’s moon lander Vikram and rover Pragyan. But the two are in deep slumber.
“Efforts have been made to establish communication with the Vikram lander and Pragyan rover to ascertain their wake-up condition. As of now, no signals have been received from them. Efforts to establish contact will continue,” the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) said.
Vikram and Pragyan were put to sleep on Sept 4 and 2, respectively and were to be woken up on September 22, ISRO had said.
On September 4, ISRO had said the lander’s battery was fully charged.
“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,” ISRO had said.
India on August 23 reached the Moon with its lander safely landing on the lunar soil in a text book style. Later, the rover rolled down and started doing experiments.