Isro building lander to function on the Moon for 200 days, survive freezing nights

Isro and the Department of Atomic Energy are developing a lunar lander with artificial heaters to survive the Moon's freezing nights. The effort could extend surface operations from about 14 days to as long as 200 days for future missions.

In Short

• Scientists are tackling extreme cold that shuts lunar missions after sunset
• A lunar night lasts about 14 Earth days without solar power
• Artificial heaters are being designed for electronics, batteries and instruments

India's next generation of lunar landers could remain operational on the Moon for up to 200 days, a dramatic leap from the roughly 14-day lifespan achieved by the Chandrayaan-3 mission, according to Indian Space Research Organisation (Isro) Chairman V. Narayanan.

The ambitious effort, being carried out jointly by Isro and the Department of Atomic Energy (DAE), is focused on solving one of the biggest challenges in lunar exploration: surviving the Moon's long and bitterly cold nights.

Isro Chief V Narayanan said scientists are developing technologies that would allow future Indian landers to continue functioning through multiple lunar day-night cycles. If successful, the breakthrough could significantly enhance India's scientific capabilities on the lunar surface and pave the way for more complex missions in the future.

The challenge stems from the unique environment on the Moon. A single lunar day lasts about 14 Earth days and is followed by an equally long lunar night.

During the lunar day, spacecraft can rely on solar panels for power generation. However, once darkness sets in, temperatures can plunge to as low as minus 180 degrees Celsius in some regions, while solar power generation comes to a complete halt.

This was the limitation faced by Chandrayaan-3's Vikram lander, which made history on August 23, 2023, by becoming the first spacecraft to successfully land near the Moon's South Pole. Although the mission exceeded expectations during the lunar daytime, the onset of the lunar night led to a loss of power and ended surface operations.

HOW IS ISRO BUILDING THE NEXT LANDER?

To overcome this hurdle, Isro and DAE are developing artificial heating systems capable of keeping spacecraft electronics, batteries and scientific instruments warm enough to survive the extreme cold.

"We are going to develop artificial heaters. If we succeed, such landers can survive for 100 to 200 days instead of only 14 days," Narayanan said.

The ability to survive multiple lunar nights would be a major milestone for India's space programme. It would allow landers and rovers to collect far more scientific data, monitor long-term environmental changes and conduct extended experiments in the Moon's harsh environment.

The development comes as India continues to expand its ambitions in space exploration.

Earlier this month, the Indian National Space Promotion and Authorisation Centre (IN-SPACe) selected three Indian space startups, Astrobase Space Technologies, SatSure Analytics India and TM2SPACE Technologies, as the first beneficiaries under its Technology Adoption Fund scheme, aimed at accelerating innovation in the country's growing private space sector.

For Isro, a lander capable of surviving months on the Moon could represent the next giant leap after Chandrayaan-3's historic success.

India is already developing Chandrayaan-4 mission, which is expected to become India’s first mission designed to collect lunar samples and return them to Earth, a complex technological step beyond the soft-landing success of Chandrayaan-3 in 2023.

- Ends