Mission accomplished, India puts the lunar rover to ‘sleep’

NEW DELHI, Sept 3 (Reuters) – India has powered down the Chandran rover, the first spacecraft to reach the moon’s south pole, after completing its two-week mission with tests, the country’s space agency said.

The Pragyaan rover from the Chandrayaan-3 spacecraft has been put into “sleep mode” but the batteries are charged and the receiver is turned on, the Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) said in a post on Twitter late Saturday at X.

“Looking forward to a successful awakening for another mission!” ISRO said. Otherwise, it will always be India’s lunar ambassador.

India joined the United States, China and the former Soviet Union in landing on the moon. Shortly after Russia’s Luna-25 crashed in a similar attempt, it passed them on reaching the rugged South Pole.

Chandrayaan-3’s soft, textbook touchdown after a failed attempt in 2019 sparked widespread jubilation in the world’s most populous country. The media hailed the landing as India’s biggest scientific achievement.

Pragyan traveled 100 m (330 ft) and confirmed the presence of sulphur, iron, oxygen and other elements on the moon, ISRO said.

India is now looking forward to the success of a probe launched on Saturday to study the Sun by observing the disruptive solar wind on Earth, commonly seen as auroras.

“The satellite is healthy” and in Earth orbit, preparing for its 1.5 million km (930,000 mile) journey, ISRO said on Sunday.

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