ISRO pulls one final stunt before putting its Moon Lander to sleep

India has just put its Moon lander to sleep. 

After two hugely successful weeks on the Moon, India’s Chandrayaan-3 mission is coming to an end. 

But not without one final experimental stunt.

READ MORE! India space agency shares new footage of lunar rover ‘playfully frolicking’ on South Pole of Moon

The Indian Space Research Oranization (ISRO) took to X to share the news that its Vikram Lander successfully pulled off a “hop experiment”, 

What exactly is this? 

“On comment, it fired the engines, elevated itself by about 40 cm as expected and landed safely at a distance of 30-40 cm away,” the ISRO said. 

It might not sound super exciting but it is. 

The Indian space agency says this ‘kick-start’ experiment proves all systems are healthy and means they can move towards manned missions to the Moon. 

Chandrayaan-3 Mission:
🇮🇳Vikram soft-landed on 🌖, again!

Vikram Lander exceeded its mission objectives. It successfully underwent a hop experiment.

On command, it fired the engines, elevated itself by about 40 cm as expected and landed safely at a distance of 30 – 40 cm away.… pic.twitter.com/T63t3MVUvI

— ISRO (@isro) September 4, 2023

Following this, the Vikram Moon Lander was set to sleep mode. 

“Vikram will fall asleep next to Pragyan once the solar power is depleted and the battery is drained,” the ISRO said. 

“Hoping for their awakening around September 22, 2023.” 

Chandrayaan-3 Mission:
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 are performed at the new location. The data collected is received at the Earth.
Payloads are now switched off.… pic.twitter.com/vwOWLcbm6P

— ISRO (@isro) September 4, 2023

READ MORE! India’s lunar rover shares epic first photos of its lander on Moon’s South Pole

Since landing on the Moon’s South Pole on August 23, the ISRO has made some hugely exciting discoveries. 

Aside from an impressive four-meter-wide crater, the agency confirmed it discovered sulfur on the Moon. 

Not only that, but several other elements were detected too including aluminum, iron, calcium, chromium, titanium, manganese, oxygen, and silicon. 

The discoveries were actually made while the rover was in search for signs of frozen water.

The Indian Space Research Agency made history when it announced it had successfully landed on the Moon’s South Pole. 

In doing so, India became the first country to ever land on the South Pole, and the fourth country to land on the Moon at all. 

DISCOVER SBX CARS: The global premium car auction platform powered by Supercar Blondie