The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) said that the Pragyan rover of Chandrayaan-3 on the Moon has been put to sleep. The Space Agency is hoping to wake the rover up 14 days later, on September 22, 2023.
ISRO said that the payloads that transmit data to the Earth via the lander are turned off.
Just in case, if the Pragyan rover does not have a “successful awakening”, it will stay on the Moon forever as India’s lunar ambassador.
Sharing the latest update of the Chandrayaan-3 mission, ISRO wrote on X (Formerly known as Twitter), “The Rover completed its assignments. It is now safely parked and set into Sleep mode. APXS and LIBS payloads are turned off. Data from these payloads is transmitted to the Earth via the Lander.”
“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.