An Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) official said that they have deferred the revival of Chandrayaan-3 lander Vikram and rover Pragyan for a day.
"We planned to reactivate the rover and lander on Friday, but due to some reasons we will now do it tomorrow (September 23),” said scientist Nilesh Desai, director of the Space Applications Centre at ISRO.
The Vikram lander had made a soft landing on the South Pole of the Moon on August 23, at a location now known as 'Shiv Shakti Point.' With the successful launch, India became the fourth nation in the world to achieve a soft landing on the moon and the first nation to land on the South Pole of the lunar crater.
As per ISRO, Chandrayaan-3 performed all its objectives, after which ISRO scientists decided to shut down the operations of all instruments, with the battery fully charged a little before sunset. It was hoped that the charged batteries could keep devices warm enough to survive one lunar night, which is equivalent to 14 days on Earth.
However, ISRO scientists earlier clarified that chances for a revival of the lander and rover are weak, and the mission originally had a life span of just one lunar day.
The machines inside the Vikram were not designed to handle the extremely cold night temperatures on the South Pole of the Moon, which drop well below -200 degrees Celsius.