ISRO puts rover Chandrayaan-3 into “sleep mode” after successful experiments on the lunar surface.
India has shut down its lunar rover, the first ship to reach the moon’s south pole, after completing its two-week mission to conduct experiments, the country’s space agency said.
The Chandrayaan-3 spacecraft’s Pragyan rover has been “put into sleep mode,” albeit with charged batteries and the receiver turned on, the Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) said in a post on X, formerly Twitter, late Saturday.
“I hope for a successful awakening for another series of tasks!” said ISRO. “Otherwise it will remain there forever as India’s lunar ambassador.”
Chandrayaan-3 Mission:
The rover has done its job.It is now safely parked and put into sleep mode.
APXS and LIBS payloads are disabled.
The data from these payloads will be transmitted to Earth via the lander.The battery is currently fully charged.
The solar panel is…– ISRO (@isro) September 2, 2023
By landing on the moon, India joined the United States, China and the former Soviet Union. Shortly after the Russian Luna-25 crashed in a similar attempt, it surpassed them in reaching the rugged South Pole.
The soft landing of Chandrayaan-3 after a failed attempt in 2019 caused great cheering in the world’s most populous country. The media hailed the landing as India’s greatest scientific achievement.
Pragyan traveled over 100 m (330 feet) and confirmed the presence of sulfur, iron, oxygen and other elements on the moon, ISRO said.
Now India is hoping for the success of a probe launched on Saturday to study the Sun and observe solar winds, which can cause disturbances on Earth commonly seen as the Aurora Borealis.
“The satellite is healthy” and in Earth orbit, ISRO said Sunday as it prepares for its 1.5 million kilometer (930,000 mile) journey.
© Thomson Reuters 2023
