A significant rise in temperature inside Chandrayaan — as a result of the spacecraft getting nearer to the sun while going around the moon— is preventing India’s first lunar mission from entering into the operational phase.

The high temperatures are likely to continue at least till the middle of next month when the spacecraft will move sufficiently away from the sun for the heat to subside. Though this rise in temperature was entirely expected and not a cause for any concern, the scientists at the mission control in Bangalore are playing safe by not switching on all the instruments simultaneously so as to avoid further rise in temperature because of the internal heat generated by the functioning of these instruments.

“This rise and fall in temperature inside a satellite is a normal cyclical process. There is nothing unusual about it. But since this is the first cycle being faced by Chandrayaan, we are being extra cautious. We have decided to wait till the temperatures dip to bring the mission into the operational phase,” Mylswamy Annadurai, project director of Chandrayaan-I, told The Indian Express.

As of now, all but two of the instruments onboard have been switched on and tested. But at any given point of time, only one instrument has been operational.

“Two of the instruments which are still to be switched on are not only more sensitive to heat but also to high voltage. We thought it would be wise to wait for the temperature to go down before testing them,” Annadurai said.

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