Mission accomplished

After completing its two-week assignment conducting experiments at the lunar south pole, India’s space agency puts its first lunar rover, ‘to sleep’. The Pragyan rover from the Chandrayaan-3 spacecraft has been put into sleep mode but with its batteries charged and receiver connected, the Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) said in a post on social networking site ‘X’, formerly known as Twitter.

“Hopefully, the rover can be ‘awaken successfully’ and launched for other missions”, ISRO said. “If this is not the case, he will forever remain India’s lunar ambassador”. With this lunar landing, India joins the ranks of major countries such as the United States, China, and the Soviet Union. In India’s case, it managed to surpass the other countries that have also landed on the moon simply by reaching the south pole, which is a steep terrain. “Pragyan traveled more than 100 meters, 330 feet, confirming the presence of sulfur, iron, oxygen, and other elements on the moon”, ISRO explained.

The soft landing of Chandrayaan-3 after a failed attempt in 2019 sparked widespread rejoicing in the world’s most populated country. The media hailed the landing as India’s greatest scientific achievement.

Now, India is enjoying the success of a spacecraft launched last Friday to study the sun. The goal is to observe solar winds that can cause disturbances on Earth, also known as auroras. “The satellite is healthy and in orbit”, ISRO said, as the satellite prepares for its 1.5-million-kilometer journey.