As 14 days of daylight ends on the Moon, the Indian Space Research Organisation, ISRO has put off the payloads on the solar-powered Rover Pragyan that is safely parked on the surface of the Moon. In its tweet, ISRO said that APXS and LIBS payloads are turned off and the Chandrayaan 3 Rover set into sleep mode. The battery is fully charged on the Rover and is oriented to receive the light at the next sunrise expected on the 22nd of September. The receiver is kept on. ISRO tweet further adds that it hopes for a successful awakening for another set of assignments. If not, the Rover will forever stay on the Lunar surface as India’s lunar ambassador.
AIR Correspondent reports, when the Lander had captured a video of Rover rolling on the lunar surface, in a lighter vein, ISRO had tweeted earlier that it felt like child Rover was playfully frolicking in the yards of Chandamama while the mother Lander watches affectionately. The 26 kg six-wheeled, solar-powered Rover has sent several crucial data of lunar soil and rocks from near the south pole where Chandrayaan 3 Lander Vikram had soft landed on the 23rd of August creating history. The data from the APXS payload have confirmed the presence of Sulphur, aluminium, silicon, calcium and iron on the Moon. The Laser Induced Breakdown Spectroscopy instrument also confirmed the presence of sulphur in the Moon.