The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) on Saturday said that Chandrayaan 3’s Pragyaan Rover has completed its assignments on the lunar surface and safely put into “sleep mode”. Taking to ‘X’, the space agency further stated that, the rover’s payloads – APXS and LIBS – are also turned off. Data from these payloads is transmitted to the Earth via the Lander, it stated.
“Currently, the battery is fully charged. 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! Else, it will forever stay there as India’s lunar ambassador,” ISRO added.
ISRO chief S Somanath had earlier in the day said the rover has moved almost 100 metres from the lander. “And we are going to start the process of making both of them sleep in the coming one or two days because they have to withstand the night,” he said.
Rover rotated in search of a safe route
Earlier on August 31, the initial assessment of the first-ever measurements of the near-surface lunar plasma environment over the south pole region by RAMBHA-LP payload indicated that plasma is relatively sparse there. ISRO also released a video of the Chandrayaan-3 rover rotating in search of a safe route. The rotation was captured by a Lander Imager Camera. Meanwhile, Pragyan Rover has also confirmed the presence of Sulphur (S) on the lunar surface near the south pole, through first-ever in-situ measurements.
India’s lunar mission
It should be mentioned here that India’s Moon mission Chandrayaan-3 touched down on the lunar south pole at 6:04 pm on Wednesday, August 23. In a big boost to India’s space prowess, the Lander Module comprising the lander (Vikram) and the rover (Pragyan), made the soft landing near the south polar region of the Moon, less than a week after a similar Russian lander crashed. The Rs 600 crore Chandrayaan-3 mission was launched on July 14 onboard Launch Vehicle Mark-III (LVM-3) rocket, for a 41-day voyage to reach near the lunar south pole.
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