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Bedtime for Pragyan rover as Sun sets on Moon, here are its remarkable findings

Bedtime for Pragyan rover as Sun sets on Moon, here are its remarkable findings

Pragyan rover of Chandrayaan-3

It’s bedtime for India’s rover ‘Pragyan’ after having explored the lunar surface for a good 10 days and completing all of its assignments.

“Hoping for a successful awakening for another set of assignments! Else, it will forever stay there as India's lunar ambassador,” India’s space agency ISRO said in a post on X. The Chandrayaan-3 rover is now safely parked on the lunar surface and set into sleep mode as harsh lunar night arrives on the horizon.

“Chandrayaan-3 Mission: 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,” the space agency posted on X.

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The next focus

ISRO’s next focus is to revive the mission once the next lunar day begins on September 22. Its battery is fully charged and its solar panels are aligned in a way to help it receive solar light.

“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,” the ISRO posted.

ISRO earlier said that the Pragyan rover traversed over 100 metres after rolling out of the Vikram lander around 10 days ago.

Why revival is so difficult?

Once the Sun sets, the temperature at the lunar surface can plunge as below as minus 200 degreeCelsius.

“The temperature there goes down to -200 minus degrees. In such an environment, there is no guarantee that the battery, electronics will survive, but we did some tests and we get the feeling that they will survive even in such harsh conditions,” S Somnath, ISRO chairman, said.

What are the assignments done so far?

So far, Pragyan has confirmed the presence of sulphur on the Moon's south pole. It has also detected other elements such as aluminum, silicon, oxygen, and manganese, which can really help research efforts on our home planet.

Additionally, the lander also recorded a “natural event” on the Moon on August 26, details of which will be released by the ISRO upon investigation.”

Watch:Aditya-L1: Days after Lunar landing, ISRO to take first step to the sun

In another statement posted on X, ISRO said, “In-situ Scientific Experiments Instrument for the Lunar Seismic Activity (ILSA) payload on Chandrayaan 3 Lander -- the first Micro Electro Mechanical Systems (MEMS) technology-based instrument on the moon -- has recorded the movements of Rover and other payloads.”

“Additionally, it has recorded an event, appearing to be a natural one, on August 26, 2023. The source of this event is under investigation,” the statement added.

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