Lunar nights are going to be an issue for Moon exploration. If a rover has difficulty surviving 2-week nights at -220C, imagine humans.
I wonder what are the plans for the first bases, and whether they are going to use RTG to keep warm at night.
The plan for the Artemis base is to be near the south pole, so I think they’ll be able to get solar power more than 50% of the time.
A bummer, but at least it didn’t make a new crater.
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India’s space agency Isro says it is trying to contact its Moon lander and rover as a new lunar day begins, but has not received any signals so far.
On Friday, Isro posted on X (formerly Twitter) that “efforts to establish communication with the Vikram lander and Pragyaan rover will continue”.
India made history with its Chandrayaan-3 mission when it became the first country to successfully land a spacecraft near the lunar south pole.
It also joined an elite club of countries to achieve a soft landing on the Moon, after the US, the former Soviet Union and China.
The landing was carefully planned to coincide with the start of a lunar day, so that Vikram and Pragyaan would have two weeks of sunlight to work with.
Isro has tried to temper expectations, saying if Vikram and Pragyaan do not wake up they will stay on the Moon “as India’s lunar ambassador”.
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