Annadurai compared the temperature fluctuations to the seasonal cycle on earth. As the spacecraft moves nearer to the sun, the temperature inside it will go up. Similarly, when it moves away from sun, the temperature will go down. During its two-year lifecycle, Chandrayaan-I will have two ‘summers’ and two ‘winters’. The spacecraft will well-designed to withstand these temperature fluctuations.

The extra-cautiousness on the part of mission scientists is only because this is Chandrayaan’s first experience with such phenomenon. “We are well within the upper limit of the spacecraft’s temperature bracket. But we want to remain in this comfort zone as it is our first experience,” Annadurai said.

The spacecraft has heater, which is capable up increasing the temperature during the ‘winter’ but there is no such mechanism available to deal with ‘summers’, he said. In case, the temperatures start touching the upper limit, there would be no option but to switch off one or some of the instruments on board to avoid any damage to them.

Apart from this small hiccup, Chandrayaan is doing perfectly fine, Annadurai said. The data sent by each of the instruments that have been turned on have been analysed and found to be according to expectation. The operational phase of the mission will begin once all the instruments start operating continuously.