BANGALORE: New Delhi: In a significant development, the Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) has announced that the 'Vikram Lander' has been intentionally placed into sleep mode at approximately 08:00 AM Indian Standard Time on Monday morning.

ISRO explained that the scientific data collected by the lander's various instruments has been successfully transmitted back to Earth, following which these instruments have been powered down. ISRO anticipates that both the Vikram Lander and its companion, Pragyaan, will be reactivated around September 22.

"Today at 08:00 Hrs. IST, the Vikram Lander was intentionally put into sleep mode. Prior to this, it conducted in-situ experiments using the ChaSTE, RAMBHA-LP, and ILSA payloads at its new location. The data collected from these experiments has been transmitted to Earth. Subsequently, the payloads have been switched off, while the lander's receivers remain active. Vikram will enter a state of dormancy once its solar power is depleted and the battery is drained. We eagerly await their reawakening, expected around September 22, 2023," ISRO announced via its official channel.

The Vikram lander was equipped with a suite of scientific instruments, including Chandra's Surface Thermophysical Experiment (ChaSTE) for surface thermal property measurements, the Instrument for Lunar Seismic Activity (ILSA) for monitoring seismic activity at 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 precise lunar ranging studies.

On August 23, India achieved a remarkable milestone as the Chandrayaan-3 lander module successfully touched down on the moon's South Pole. This historic achievement marked India as the first country to land successfully on the moon's surface after the Chandrayaan-2 mission encountered a crash landing four years earlier. In doing so, India joined an exclusive group of nations, including the United States, China, and Russia, that have achieved successful lunar landings.

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