The Indian space agency Isro did not confirm if further efforts will continue to contact it, but added that the lander and rover had completed “all their assignments – and more”.

The Vikram lander was expected to wake up on or after 22 September when a new lunar day began.

There are just over 14 Earth days between a day and a night on the Moon.

A lander carrying the Pragyaan rover touched down on 23 August near the Moon’s little-explored south pole. After collecting data and images for two weeks, they went into “sleep mode” at nightfall.

Since their batteries need sunlight to charge, the landing date was carefully chosen to coincide with lunar daybreak. The Indian Space Research Organisation (Isro) had initially estimated that the lander and rover would last 14 Earth days, but later hoped that the batteries would recharge and the modules would reawaken.

As time progressed and no signal was received from the lander, scientists told that chances of its reawakening were diminishing.

Former Indian space agency chief G Madhavan Nair told on Friday that “the chances of the Vikram lander waking up are extremely remote.”

He said it wasn’t designed to withstand the extreme weather conditions on the Moon, where night temperatures can drop to -200C to -250C (-328F to -418F).

“There will still be attempts to communicate with Vikram lander once in a while,” said Mylswamy Annadurai, head of India’s first Moon mission.