Chandrayaan 3's rover 'Pragyan' has been set into sleep mode after it completed its assignments on the lunar surface, the ISRO said on Saturday. The lander and rover were designed only for lunar daytime, equivalent to nearly 14 days on Earth as its electronics are not designed to withstand very low temperatures.
The Chandrayaan-3 lander and rover were expected to operate only for one Lunar day, which is equivalent to nearly 14 days on Earth. That is because the electronics are not designed to withstand very low temperatures, less than -120 degrees Celsius, during the nighttime on the Moon.
However, the space agency is hopeful of awakening the lander and rover after 14 days. "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 tweeted on X.
The space agency's announcement came hours after its chief S Somanath said the lunar mission's rover and lander, 'Pragyan' and 'Vikram', respectively were functioning well. He added that 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.
Adithya L1
A day after the launch of PSLV-C57.1 carrying Aditya-L1, the ISRO will conduct the first Earth-bound firing to raise Aditya-L1's orbit at around 11:45 am on Sunday.
The Sun is a giant sphere of gas and Aditya-L1 would study its outer atmosphere. Aditya-L1 will neither land on the Sun nor approach it any closer, ISRO said. Following Saturday's launch Aditya-L1, weighing about 1,480.7 kg, stays in Earth-bound orbits for 16 days, during which it undergoes five manoeuvres to gain the necessary velocity for its journey towards the Sun.
