After days of darkness, and brutal cold temperatures around minus 200 degrees centigrade, the Sun has finally risen over the Lunar south pole, near where India's Chandrayaan-3 lander and rover have remained in sleep mode since September 2nd, as reported by WION.

However, the sunrise is not the real deal. The Sun must be at a certain angle, such that the solar panels of the Chandrayaan-3 Vikram Lander and Pragyan rover must be able to receive sunlight and be able to harness the power of the sun, to warm up, charge their batteries and receive signals from Earth and then attempt a re-awakening.

"The solar panel is oriented to receive the light at the next sunrise expected on September 22, 2023. The receiver is kept on. Hoping for a successful awakening for another set of assignments! Otherwise, it will forever stay there as India's lunar ambassador" ISRO had said on September 2nd.

As the lunar night approached, ISRO fully charged the batteries of the Vikram Lander and Pragyan rovers and put them into sleep or hibernation mode. This is similar to what certain mammals(bears and rodents) do on earth, in preparation for the harsh and brutal winters, when temperatures are freezing and food is scarce. They gorge up on as much food as they can and slow down their metabolic activity and go into a dormant state for weeks or months.

Depending purely on solar power for its functioning, Chandrayaan-3 was put into its hibernation mode, considering that there would be no sunlight(power) during the Lunar night.

Lunar night temperatures in the Moon's equatorial regions are around minus 130 degrees Celsius. However, near the lunar South Pole, the temperatures could well be minus 200 degrees Celsius. In order for Chandrayaan-3 to survive, the circuits, sensors, electronics, hardware and other components of the Vikram Lander and Pragyan rover would have to live through this cold.

Even after sunrise, the lunar temperature also would have to stabilize to a daytime temperature, from the brutally chilly night temperature, which is a shift of more than 300 degrees Celsius.