Efforts to re-establish communication with India's Chandrayaan-3 moon lander and rover have dimmed after they entered "sleep mode" during the lunar night. The robots were expected to reawaken when exposed to sunlight around September 22, but contact hasn't been made. The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) had expressed confidence in their survival but noted that hopes were fading. They plan to continue efforts to contact the spacecraft until September 30, the next lunar sunset. Despite the challenges, the Chandrayaan-3 mission had already achieved its primary objectives, making India a key player in lunar exploration.

The Indian Space Research Organisation is awaiting signals as it attempts to revive the Chandrayaan-3 mission's Vikram lander and Pragyan rover from sleep mode. ISRO Director (SAC) Nilesh Desai said the revival is automatic and can't be controlled from Earth. Solar-charged systems should transmit signals after lunar sunrise on Sept 22. But no contact yet as efforts continue. Revival chances are 50-50 based on electronics surviving the cold. The mission accomplished its objectives already. Further moon surface experiments are possible if revived. ISRO anxiously awaits any communication from the dormant lunar lander and rover.

An eight-year-old Indian-origin girl, Aditi Shankar, has become the first person in the UK's NHS history to undergo a transplant without the need for lifelong drugs. Suffering from a rare genetic condition, she received a stem cell transplant from her mother and a kidney donation. This groundbreaking treatment, conducted at Great Ormond Street Hospital in London, means that her new kidney functions without the ongoing requirement for immunosuppressant drugs to prevent rejection. The success of this procedure may pave the way for similar treatments for seriously ill children and adults with kidney failure, although it carries higher risks than standard kidney transplants. [Image Courtesy: @GreatOrmondSt]

The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) has announced a one-day delay in their attempt to revive the Pragyan rover and Vikram lander of the Chandrayaan-3 mission. Originally planned for September 22 evening, the reactivation will now occur on September 23 as per ISRO's Nilesh Desai. The rover and lander had successfully landed on the moon in August and conducted experiments before entering sleep mode this month. While the rover traversed over 100m, below the 350m target, the mission achieved key objectives including a lunar hop test. If the dormant spacecraft components recharge as intended, the mission may get extended to gather more lunar samples.

The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) is set to re-establish communication with Chandrayaan-3's Vikram lander and Pragyan rover on Friday, September 22. Vikram and Pragyan had entered sleep mode for the lunar night after completing a successful hop experiment. The two-week lunar night meant no sunlight to power the solar-dependent systems. However, ISRO kept the lander's receivers active for data collection. Now with the lunar day starting, ISRO aims to wake up the spacecrafts and restart communications. The Chandrayaan-3 mission components rely on solar panels for energy. The earlier 14-day lunar day was their primary operational phase which allowed functioning with steady sunlight. But the lunar night posed a challenge with temperatures dropping to minus 180 degrees Celsius.

The Indian Space Research Organisation's Aditya-L1 solar observatory has successfully completed a pivotal maneuver, the trans-Lagrangean insertion, pushing it out of Earth's orbit. Launched on September 2, Aditya-L1 is now progressing on a 110-day journey to the L1 Lagrange point about 1.5 million km from Earth. This marks ISRO's fifth straight successful trajectory transfer. Stationing at the stable L1 point will enable continuous solar observations for the mission's goal of unraveling Sun mysteries. The milestone advances India's first dedicated solar mission towards the Sun-Earth Lagrange point to provide an uninterrupted view of the Sun's corona and interior. (Image courtesy: ISRO) For more details, click on the link below

The Indian Space Research Organisation announced its Aditya L1 solar observatory has started gathering scientific data while in earth orbit, beginning with its particle spectrometer payload. Aditya is set to break free of earth's gravity tonight in a maneuver to start its 4-month journey to orbit the sun. The data collected so far on energetic particles enables analysis of behavior around earth and its magnetic field. After health checks, Aditya's instruments persistently gathered measurements as the spacecraft exceeded 50,000 km from earth. The ambitious Aditya mission marks India's first space-based solar observatory, soon to provide observations from a unique vantage point.

The Indian Space Research Organisation's Chandrayaan-3 mission lander Vikram and rover Pragyan have little chance of reviving once the harsh lunar night falls, according to project director Palanivel Veeramuthuvel. With temperatures plunging to -175°C on the moon's surface after sunset, the lander and rover are unlikely to withstand the frigid conditions. Though the mission's primary goals were met for one lunar day, the loss of the lander and rover represents a setback. While the mission may not yield immediate benefits for the common person, it represents a significant step in space exploration and offers potential for future missions and lunar colonization, including the possibility of extracting water molecules from the moon's shadowed regions for power and gateway purposes.

India plans to conduct a key test for its Gaganyaan crewed space mission as early as next month, according to project director R. Hutton. The test will involve the crew escape system which can eject astronauts in emergencies. India is training four astronauts for the mission which aims to send a three-member crew into orbit for three days before returning safely. Over $1 billion has been allocated for the ambitious mission which comes after India's historic Chandrayaan-3 lunar landing. The mission is expected to launch before 2024 from Sriharikota spaceport. ISRO is focused on safety and will conduct further tests before the final launch.

YouTube CEO Neal Mohan congratulated ISRO for achieving over 8 million concurrent viewers during the live stream of Chandrayaan-3's soft landing on the moon. The live broadcast on YouTube India recorded 8 million concurrent viewers as India successfully landed on the moon on August 23. Mohan shared YouTube India's post stating the livestream's concurrent viewership broke records and that they were "over the moon". The 72-minute broadcast showed clips from ISRO's control center during the historic soft landing of the Vikram lander in the south polar region of the moon.