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Chandrayaan-3 Mission Updates: Union Minister Jitendra Singh said on Thursday that the second phase of Chandrayaan-3 is about to take off in the next few hours. He added that the scientists are waiting for the wake-up call to be activated and for both Vikram and Pragyan to respond to that alarm. 

"The second phase of Chandrayaan-3 is about to take off in the next few hours... We are waiting for the wake-up call to be activated and Vikram and Pragyan to respond to that alarm... Then the communication from earth will begin, and we will be the first in the world to accomplish this...," the Union Minister said in Parliament on Thursday as quoted by news agency ANI.

The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) is now gearing up to try to reestablish communication with its lunar mission Chandrayaan-3's solar-powered lander Vikram and rover Pragyan, to revive them so that they can continue with scientific experiments.

Both the lander and the rover were put into sleep mode on September 4 and 2, respectively. So, if the space agency is able to revive them as the sun rises on the moon again, information that is derived from experiments that could once again be conducted by the Chandrayaan-3 payloads would be a "bonus".

"We have put both the lander and rover on sleep mode because temperature would go as low as minus 120-200 degree celsius. From September 20 onwards, sunrise will be going on at the Moon and by September 22 we hope that the solar panel and other things will be fully charged, so we will be trying to revive both the lander and rover, "ISRO's Space Applications Centre Director Nilesh Desai told PTI.

"If our luck is good, we will have revival of both lander and rover and we will get some more experimental data, which will be useful for us to further do investigation of the Moon's surface. We are eagerly waiting for activity from September 22 onwards. We hope that we are lucky enough to revive both lander and rover and get some more useful data," he said, adding that whatever data they get hereon would be a bonus as quoted by news agency PTI.

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After landing on the Moon, both the lander, rover, and payloads performed experiments one after the other so as to complete them within 14 Earth days (one lunar day), before pitch darkness and extreme cold weather engulfed the Moon. The lander touched the south pole on August 23, successfully completing one of the mission's primary objectives of soft landing on the lunar surface.

Noting that as long as the sun shines, all the systems will have its power, ISRO Chairman S Somanath had earlier said, "The moment the sun sets, everything will be in pitch darkness, temperature will go as down as low as minus 180 degree Celsius. So it is not possible for the systems to survive, and if it survives further, then we should be happy that once again it has come to life and we will be able to work on the system once again." He said, "We hope it would happen that way." If the payloads are successfully switched on again, ISRO will be undertaking the same set of experiments it had conducted on the lunar surface after the landing, sources from the space agency said.

(With input from agencies)