Chandrayaan-3: India Moon lander’s reawakening unlikely as lunar night looms

BBC News:

As a new lunar night begins, Indian space scientists say chances of the Moon lander waking up are “remote”.

The Indian space agency Isro did not confirm if further efforts will continue to communicate with it, adding that the lander and rover had completed “all their assignments – and more”.

Isro had hoped that the Vikram lander would wake up on or after 22 September when a new lunar day began.

A day and night on the Moon each last just over 14 Earth days.

The lander, carrying the Pragyaan rover in its belly, touched down near the Moon’s little-explored south pole on 23 August. They spent two weeks gathering data and images, after which they were put into ‘sleep mode’ at lunar nightfall.

The landing date was carefully selected to coincide with the lunar daybreak since they needed sunlight to charge their batteries and function.