As the deadline to re-establish contact with Chandrayaan-2’s Vikram Lander looms large, the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) is leaving no stone unturned. The lander’s 14-day mission life will end on Saturday, September 21, with the setting in of the Lunar Night.

One Lunar Night is equivalent to 14 earth days. Once it falls, the Lander – which is designed to operate on solar power – will receive no sunlight to generate energy, becoming dormant in the cold terrains of the Moon.

The Vikram Lander, with Moon Rover Pragyan housed inside it, lost communication with the ISRO ground station on September 7 during its final descent on the moon at 2.1 kms above the lunar surface after encountering a hard landing. The 1,471 kg-lander had attemped to land on the Moon’s south polar region in a high plain between two craters, Manzinus C and Simpelius N, at a latitude of about 70° south.