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India successfully lands rover on Darkside of the moon

mayankyadav
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So if the poles haven’t seen sunlight I take it the rover is not solar ?!


Just asking for a friend that’s too lazy to look it up 😉

Some areas of south pole have never seen the sun light not the entire south pole. I could be wrong.
Anyway, ISRO has timed the landing and deployment of rover to coincide with lunar days which gives 14 days of sunlight to the rover and lander ( both are solar powered). Not sure what happens after 14 days. May be mission ends.
Edited:
 
Dan S
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So if the poles haven’t seen sunlight I take it the rover is not solar ?!
I think the idea is that the sun is very low in the sky at the poles, so there may be permanent ice at the bottom of craters, which are always in shadow.
 
Walrus
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pdxleaf pdxleaf
Not to pile on, but the same argument was made in 1968 and 1969 during the build up to the Apollo moon landings. Many Americans thought the money spent on Apollo would have been better spent on improving civil rights and ending Vietnam.

The benefits of space were considered worth the cost.

At the same time, people should respect your opinion, even if you might have expressed it more delicately (and your timing is poor.)

I think India would be more inclined to get in a “space race” with China than Russia. Anyway cool news I remember reading about it when they were working on the project forgot the launch date. Glad it went well.
 
kgb
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So if the poles haven’t seen sunlight I take it the rover is not solar ?!

Good question. Surprisingly this article says the rover deployed today, IS solar, and is only expected to function for 2-4 weeks. For such a short lifespan I would have thought batteries were a simpler option, especially as the rover will be exploring the dark chasms.

https://www.space.com/chandrayaan-3-rover-first-steps-on-moon
 
kgb
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Very cool videos, @mayankyadav ! Does confirm the rover has solar panels, vertical as expected since sun will always be close to horizon at poles.
 
Skrv
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Cool video @mayankyadav . Amazing what human mind can achieve (starting from first man in space by Russia ,to landing men on the moon and returning them safely, to landing rovers on distant rocks) in a span of 60 years. We may not be alive by then, but at this rate in the next 100-200 years we will be a space faring beings hopefully 😀
 
mayankyadav
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Another cool thing is as the rover ( which has a name by the way Pragyan) moves, its wheels leave imprints on lunar soil which is Indias national emblem ( lion face ) and ISRO logo… something like in this attached pic! pretty cool! Those tracks with these imprints are going to be there for millions of years !
 
IMG_3691.jpeg
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