India Space Agency Unmoved by Lunar Mission’s Concluding Moment
India’s space chief expressed contentment with the idea of concluding its triumphant lunar mission as the possibility of further communication with the Moon rover from India dwindles.
India began exploring the lunar surface in August after becoming only the fourth nation to land a craft on the celestial body, sparking celebrations in a country fast approaching milestones set by global space powers.
The rover Pragyan – Sanskrit for “Wisdom” – was exploring the vicinity of the Moon’s south pole, but it lost power before the start of the lunar night, which lasts about two weeks on Earth.
India’s space agency had hoped to extend the mission by reactivating the solar-powered vehicle after daylight returned to the lunar surface, but so far it has been greeted with radio silence.
“It’s OK if it doesn’t wake up because the rover has done what it was expected to do,” ISRO chief S. Somanath told reporters late Wednesday, according to the Press Trust of India news agency.
ISRO said last week that it hoped to make contact with the rover and the lander that delivered it safely.
“So far no signals have been received from them,” it added.
The world’s most populous nation has steadily achieved the feats of established space forces at a fraction of their cost.
It has a relatively low-budget space program, but it has grown significantly in size and speed since it first launched into lunar orbit in 2008.
Experts say India can keep costs down by copying and adapting existing technology, thanks to a large number of highly skilled engineers who earn a fraction of the wages of their foreign counterparts.
India became the first Asian nation to put a craft into Mars orbit in 2014 and is set to launch a three-day crewed mission to Earth orbit next year.
Earlier this month, it began a four-month journey towards the center of the Solar System to study phenomena on the Sun’s surface.
August’s successful moon mission came four years after its predecessor crashed for good on landing, in what was seen at the time as a huge setback for its space program.
