The Indian Space and Research Organisation(ISRO) on Saturday said that the Pragyan Rover module of the Vikram lander has been put on a ‘sleep mode’ on Saturday. ISRO also informed that the next sunrise is expected on September 22, 2023, and hoped for a successful awakening for another set of assignments.
“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,” said ISRO.
“The Pragyan rover and Vikram lander are still functional. We are commencing the process of placing both of them into sleep mode in the next one to two days as they need to tolerate the lunar night,” ISRO Chairman Somanath earlier said while delivering a congratulatory message after the successful launch of Aditya L1 sun mission from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre in Sriharikota.
The space agency’s announcement came hours after its chief S Somanath said the lunar mission’s rover and lander, ‘Pragyaan’ and ‘Vikram’, respectively were functioning well and they would be put to “sleep” soon to withstand the night on the Moon.
“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,” ISRO said in an update on social media platform X.
At present, the battery was fully charged and the solar panel 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,” it said.
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.
Chandrayaan-3 mission has three components- The propulsion module, which transferred the lander and the rover module to 100 kilometres of lunar orbit, the Lander module, which was responsible for the soft landing of the lunar craft and the Rover module, which is for exploring components on the moon.
*With agency inputs
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Updated: 02 Sep 2023, 10:19 PM IST