Chandrayaan-3 lands near moon's south pole, achieves primary objectives
On August 23, Chandrayaan-3 successfully touched down near the Moon's southern pole, accomplishing all of its primary mission objectives
New Delhi, September 4: In a significant development, the Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) has announced that the 'Vikram Lander' has been placed into sleep mode at approximately 08:00 am Indian Standard Time on Monday morning. ISRO has reported that the data collected by the lander's payloads has been successfully transmitted to Earth, and the payloads are now powered down. It is anticipated that both the Vikram Lander and Pragyaan rover will reawaken around September 22.
ISRO provided an update, stating, "Vikram Lander is set into sleep mode around 08:00 Hrs. IST today. Prior to that, in-situ experiments by ChaSTE, RAMBHA-LP, and ILSA payloads were performed at the new location. The data collected is received at Earth. Payloads are now switched off. Lander receivers are kept ON. Vikram will fall asleep next to Pragyan once the solar power is depleted and the battery is drained. Hoping for their awakening, around September 22, 2023," as posted on X.
The Vikram lander carried several scientific instruments, including the Chandra's Surface Thermophysical Experiment (ChaSTE) to measure surface thermal properties, the Instrument for Lunar Seismic Activity (ILSA) to assess seismic activity near the landing site, the Radio Anatomy of Moon Bound Hypersensitive ionosphere and Atmosphere (RAMBHA) for studying the lunar gas and plasma environment, and a passive laser retroreflector array provided by NASA for lunar ranging studies.
On August 23, India achieved a significant milestone as the Chandrayaan-3 lander module successfully touched down on the moon's South Pole, becoming the first country to accomplish this historic feat and bringing an end to the disappointment stemming from the Chandrayaan-2's crash landing four years earlier. With this achievement, India joined the ranks of the US, China, and Russia as the fourth nation to successfully land on the lunar surface.
Upon landing, the Vikram Lander and the Pragyan rover embarked on a series of tasks on the lunar surface, including detecting the presence of sulfur and recording temperature differentials. The lander and rover were designed to operate for one lunar day, equivalent to 14 Earth days.
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