On August 23, local time, the Indian lunar probe "Chandrayaan-3" successfully landed on the moon. Its lander and lunar rover then went into hibernation on September 2. However, India has recently been unable to receive the signal sent by "Chandrayaan-3" in the process of waking it up. Scientists believe that the hope of the detector "waking up" is getting slimmer.
On July 14, 2023 local time, the "Chandrayaan-3" lunar probe was launched in Andhra Pradesh, India. Visual China Map
Indian scientists recently stated that they have not yet made contact with the dormant "Chandrayaan-3" and said that the possibility of the probe being successfully awakened is getting smaller and smaller. According to scientists' speculation, there is about a 50% chance that "Chandrayaan-3" can survive the cold moonlit night. And if "Chandrayaan-3" cannot be awakened, it will stay on the moon as India's "lunar ambassador".
"Chandrayaan-3" arrived on the lunar surface on August 23, becoming the first probe to land near the lunar south pole. It also made India the fourth country to achieve a soft landing on the moon after the United States, the Soviet Union and China. On September 2, in order to protect the probe during the two-week moonlit night with temperatures as low as minus 250 degrees Celsius, both the "Chandrayaan-3" lander and lunar rover entered a dormant state. Indian scientists previously planned to wake up "Chandrayaan-3" on September 22 to bathe it in sunlight again, and the solar panels will be able to charge it.
On August 27, 2023 local time, the picture provided by the Indian Space Research Organization shows the crater encountered by the "Chandrayaan-3" probe captured by the navigation camera. Visual China Map
The Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) posted on the social platform "X" on September 22 that India will continue to try to contact the "Chandrayaan-3" lander and lunar rover before the arrival of the next moonlit night on September 30.
The "Chandrayaan-3" probe is the third attempt of India's lunar exploration program. It has completed its main mission and detected various substances such as sulfur, aluminum, iron, calcium, chromium, titanium, manganese, oxygen and silicon on the lunar surface. Previously, India successfully launched its first lunar probe "Chandrayaan-1" in 2008 and obtained a large amount of data and images. However, the probe lost contact in 2009. In July 2019, India launched the "Chandrayaan-2" probe. However, its lander lost contact while attempting a soft landing on the lunar surface in September of that year, and was subsequently confirmed to have crashed.