Pragyan rover put to sleep on Moon, Isro hopes to wake it up 14 days later
APXS and LIBS, the payloads that transmit data to the Earth via the lander, are turned off. "The solar panel is oriented to receive the light at the next sunrise expected on September 22, 2023," Isro said in a post on X.
Pragyan rover ramping down on the Moon. (Photo: Isro)
UPDATED: Sep 2, 2023 22:41 IST
The Indian Space Research Organisation on Saturday said that the Pragyan rover on the Moon has been put to sleep. The Space Centre hopes to wake it up 14 days later.
The rover is equipped with two payloads, the Alpha Particle X-ray Spectrometer (APXS) and the Laser Induced Breakdown Spectroscope (LIBS). The payloads that transmit data to the Earth via the lander are turned off.
advertisement
"The solar panel is oriented to receive the light at the next sunrise expected on September 22, 2023," Isro said in a post on X, formerly known as Twitter.
If the Pragyan rover does not have a "successful awakening", it will stay on the Moon forever as India's lunar ambassador.
The Pragyan rover and the Vikram lander had been working in tandem to gather valuable scientific data. The APXS and LIBS payloads are designed to analyze the elemental and mineralogical composition of the lunar soil and rocks.
The Pragyan rover rolled out on the Moon following the successful landing of the Vikram lander. It has confirmed the presence of sulphur, iron, oxygen, and other elements on the moon. The rover's journey of 100 meters is a testament to ISRO's end-to-end capability in safe landing and roving on the lunar surface.
Chandrayaan-3 successfully landed on the Moon's surface on August 23, 2023. The mission marked India as only the fourth country to achieve a soft landing on the lunar surface.
