NEW DELHI: Isro chairman V Narayanan has revealed that the space agency is collaborating with the Department of Atomic Energy (DAE) to develop an advanced artificial heating system for future lunar landers that can operate for up to 200 Earth days on the surface of the Moon.The announcement is important as the Chandrayaan-3 lander, named Vikram, operated for only 14 Earth days (one lunar day) on Moon’s surface after the lunarcraft landed on south pole side of Moon on Aug 23, 2023, and Isro could gather valuable data for just two weeks.Isro chairman said, “We are going to work on a project with DAE under the guidance of our minister, where we are going to develop objects… Thereby, this type of lander will survive for up to 200 days.”Isro chief, during CSIR-RISE Conclave in Bengaluru on Sunday, explained that Vikram was fuelled by solar energy and therefore could operate for only 14 days during the lunar day when the Sun was visible on Moon’s surface. The lander stopped working with the onset of the lunar night. The advanced lander will have artificial heaters that can survive harsh lunar nights when temperatures can plummet to -129°C on the Moon.Narayanan said the new technology will help significantly in long-duration lunar exploration. With a 200-day survival capability, the advanced lander can survive and perform experiments for nearly 7 lunar days. If successful, the breakthrough will also pave the way for more complex interplanetary missions in future.He also said that Isro and CSIR have identified 40 areas of technological cooperation and 17 of them have already been approved for implementation in the first phase.
