India ‘rests’ its Moon rover spacecraft, the first to reach the Moon’s south pole. The action was taken after the probe completed its work while conducting experiments, the country’s space agency said.
The Pragyan rover of the Chandrayaan-3 spacecraft is “set to sleep mode.” However, the battery was charged and the receiver was on, the Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) said in a post on X, formerly Twitter, on Saturday (2/9) evening.
“Hoping for a successful awakening for another series of tasks!” ISRO said. “Or, it (the plane) will forever stay there as an ambassador for the Indian Moon.”
By landing on the Moon, India followed in the footsteps of the United States (US), China and the former Soviet Union. The plane surpassed those countries’ achievements by reaching the rugged South Pole, shortly after Russia’s Luna-25 crashed in a similar attempt.
The successful landing of Chandrayaan-3 after a failed attempt in 2019 sparked widespread jubilation in the world’s most populous country. The media hailed the landing as India’s greatest scientific achievement.
Pragyan traveled more than 100 meters confirming the presence of sulfur, iron, oxygen and other elements on the moon, ISRO said.
Now India hopes for the success of a probe launched on Saturday (2/9) to study the Sun, observing solar winds that can cause disturbances on earth commonly called auroras.
“The satellite is healthy” and in Earth orbit, ISRO said on Sunday (3/9), as it prepared for its 1.5 million km journey. (Ah)