India’s moon rover Pragyan put to sleep: ISRO

Chennai, Sep 2: The Indian space agency on Saturday put to sleep the 26 kg moon rover Pragyan.

In a message on the social media platform X Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) said: “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.”

Earlier in the day ISRO Chairman S Somanath said India’s moon lander Vikram and the rover Pragyan will be put to sleep in a couple of days time.

Soon after orbiting the Aditya-L1 spacecraft in the intended intermediate orbit by the Polar Satellite LaunchVehicle-C57 (PSLV-C57) Somanath said the rover Prayan has moved 100 metres away from the lander.

He said both the lander and the rover are working well.

According to him, the process of putting the rover and the lander to sleep will begin in one or two days as they have to withstand the cold night.

India on August 23 reached the Moon with its lander safely landing on the lunar soil in a text book style. Later the rover rolled down and started doing experiments.

ISRO said that the rover has found the presence of oxygen, aluminium, sulphur and other materials near the lunar south pole, while investigation regarding the presence of hydrogen is underway.