Vikram lander, Pragyan rover set to 'wake up' after 14-day slumber

Tribune News Service

Ajay Banerjee

New Delhi, September 21

Union minister Jitendra Singh today said the Vikram lander and the Pragyan rover are set to “wake up” after a 14-day “sleep”.

“We hope that the communication circuit will be activated by the onboard batteries when these are fully charged,” said the minister, adding that the circuits on the lander and rover would work only if the temperature was higher than -10°.

“If we can wake up the lander and the rover, it will be the first such event in the world,” he said. Replying to a discussion on the Chandrayaan-3 mission in the Lok Sabha, he said: “During the past nine years, the government has not confined itself just to launching rockets. Space technology has now entered every Indian home...”

The minister said in 2013, the budget for the Department of Space was Rs 5,168 crore, while for the current financial year, it was Rs 12,543 crore.

Congress MP Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury suggested the government should hold a felicitation ceremony in Rashtrapati Bhavan for all ISRO scientists who were part of the mission.

Earlier, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh said the success was a result of the development of India’s social, cultural and scientific trend.