Bangalore - Hopes of reviving the Chandrayaan-3 mission's Vikram lander and Pragyan rover have been extinguished as the lunar night has descended, casting long shadows over the Shiv Shakti Point, the designated landing site for the spacecraft.

Sunlight began to recede from the Shiv Shakti Point on September 30, marking the commencement of the lunar night. Situated between the Manzinuz C and Simpelius N craters, approximately 4,200 kilometers from the lunar north pole, this location experiences a lunar night, a period of approximately 14 days of darkness, during which lunar surface temperatures plummet to as low as -180 degrees Celsius. The functionality of the Vikram lander and Pragyan rover relies on solar power, rendering them inoperative in the absence of sunlight.

Following their successful initial tasks, the Vikram lander and Pragyan rover of the Chandrayaan-3 mission entered a state of hibernation on September 2. Numerous efforts were subsequently made to revive them in the hope that they had survived the previous lunar night cycle.

Both the European station in Kourou and the ISRO Telemetry, Tracking, and Command Network (ISTRAC) in Bengaluru made multiple attempts to reactivate the lander and rover, but these efforts proved futile. With the onset of the current lunar night, the mission officially comes to an end, as it is impossible for the lander and rover to endure the harsh lunar environmental conditions.

Despite the unsuccessful attempts to reawaken the Vikram-Pragyan duo, S Somanath, chief of the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO), views the Chandrayaan-3 mission as a significant success, as it has already achieved its intended objectives. Somanath stated to reporters, "It is acceptable if it does not awaken because the rover has fulfilled its expected tasks."

Chandrayaan-3 achieved a smooth landing on the Moon's South Pole on August 23, making India one of the few countries, alongside the US, China, and Russia, to achieve a successful lunar landing. Since their landing, the Vikram lander and Pragyan rover have gathered valuable data from the lunar surface, including the rover's exploration of the lunar surface and the confirmation of the presence of essential elements.

The Vikram lander of Chandrayaan-3 detected the presence of significant metals such as sulphur, aluminium, calcium, silicon, iron, oxygen, titanium, chromium, and manganese. Additionally, it conducted in-depth research into the Moon's Ionosphere, measuring electron densities ranging from 5 million to 30 million per cubic meter.

Before sharing these discoveries, ISRO also provided insights into the lunar surface temperatures, reporting a range from -10 degrees Celsius to 50 degrees Celsius.