Chandrayaan-3 update: 'Vikram lander set into sleep mode at 8 am, payloads are now switched off,' says ISRO

The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) on Monday said that Vikram lander was set into sleep mode at around 8 am. The space agency is hoping to wake the rover up 14 days later, on September 22, 2023.

According to a post by the Indian space agency on X, "In-situ experiments by ChaSTE, RAMBHA-LP and ILSA payloads are performed at the new location. The data collected is received at the 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."

The Pragyan rover is loaded with two payloads; the Alpha Particle X-ray Spectrometer (APXS) and the Laser Induced Breakdown Spectroscope (LIBS). ISRO said that the payloads that transmit data to the Earth via the lander are turned off and the lander receivers have been kept on. The latest update comes after the ISRO earlier in the day said that Chandrayaan-3’s Vikram lander has “soft landed” on the lunar surface again after its initial landing on August 23 on the Moon’s south pole.

The Pragyan rover and the Vikram lander had been working together to collect important scientific data. The APXS and LIBS payloads are intended to investigate the elemental and mineralogical composition of lunar soil and rocks.

The Pragyan rover and the Vikram lander are collecting significant scientific data in tandem. The APXS and LIBS payloads were developed specifically to examine the elemental and mineralogical composition of lunar soil and rocks.

Launched on July 14, Chandrayaan-3, equipped with Vikram lander and Pragyan rover took off from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre in Sriharikota, Andhra Pradesh. The Vikram lander of Chandrayaan-3 successfully did the soft landing on the south pole of the lunar surface on August 23. 

The success of the Chandrayaan-3 mission made India the fourth country in the world to perform a successful touchdown on the lunar surface and the first country to reach the uncharted south pole of the Moon.

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