--- title: "India’s Moon Rover Has Gone to Sleep" description: "India's Chandrayaan-3 Moon mission rover and lander, Pragyaan and Vikram, are taking a well-earned nap as they await the next lunar sunrise." date: "2023-09-05" modified: "2023-09-05" authors: - name: "Maggie Harrison Dupré" job_title: "Senior Staff Writer" link: "https://futurism.com/authors/mharrison" url: "https://futurism.com/the-byte/india-moon-rover-sleep" categories: - "Astronomy" - "Health & Medicine" - "Moon" - "Sleep" - "Space" tags: - "ISRO" - "moon" - "moon lander" - "the digest" --- # India’s Moon Rover Has Gone to Sleep ![India's Chandrayaan-3 Moon mission rover and lander, Pragyaan and Vikram, are taking a well-earned nap as they await the next lunar sunrise.]() *\Image: ISRO / Futurism\* ## Nap Time After its victorious first round of primary mission goals, India's Chandrayaan-3 lunar rover and lander — the [first spacecraft to successfully land]() on the Moon's previously untouched South Pole, and India's first Moon landing ever — are taking a well-earned nap. As [*Space.com* reports](), both the Pragyaan rover and the Vikram lander are officially in "sleep mode" as they await the next lunar sunrise, due in roughly two weeks. The vehicles are both solar powered, and though the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) said in a Saturday [X-formerly-Twitter post]() that Pragyaan's batteries are "fully charged," the exploration body has chosen to safely power down and park the rover — which, per *Space.com*, has already roamed over 330 feet of the lunar surface since its August 23 arrival — for the time being. "The solar panel is oriented to receive the light at the next sunrise expected on September 22, 2023," the ISRO wrote in the Sept 2 update, noting that the rover's "receiver is kept on." "Hoping for a successful awakening for another set of assignments!" the post continued. "Else, \[Pragyaan\] will forever stay there as India's lunar ambassador." https://twitter.com/isro/status/1698010732128764164?s=20 ## Got Hops Vikram followed suit two days later, with the ISRO announcing in a September 4 [X post]() that the lander "will fall asleep next to Pragyan once the solar power is depleted and the battery is drained." And though its operations continued for a few days longer than Pragyaan's, the lander is due to rise on that same September 22 date. Indeed, as *Space.com* reports, the ISRO did its best to get Vikram as close to Pragyaan for their joint naptime as possible, powering up the lander's thrusters to perform a small, 16-inch "hop" over to the nearby snoozing rover. The Chandrayaan-3 mission is a historic moment in space travel. The potential for discovery on this previously unexplored lunar landscape is vast, while the vehicles' safe landing has also put India into an elite group of just four countries to put a spacecraft on the Moon, a list that also includes the US, the former USSR, and China. On that note, it's worth mentioning that the ISRO's success has also been a salient foil to the recent failure of Roscosmos, whose own attempt to land its Luna-25 craft on the Moon's south pole [ended in catastrophe]() just two days prior to the history-making Chandrayaan-3 landing. Here's looking forward to September 22, when the ISRO's vehicles are set to resume their journey — and hopefully, make some fascinating findings along the way. **More on Pragyaan and Vikram:** [*India Prevents Moon Rover from Falling into Hole*]() ## Author At Futurism, I've reported extensively on the rise of AI as a cultural and business force shaping the media industry, and more broadly how those dynamics are changing how we all consume and share information and relate to one another. I'm also fascinated by public health policy and ethics, the role of emerging tech in politics and governance — and the powerful people and forces at those intersections — climate change, and the environment. My investigation on Sports Illustrated's use of AI-generated authors with fictional biographies won a 2024 Mirror Award for "Best Story on Media Coverage of Artificial Intelligence in Journalism and the Media" from Syracuse University's SI Newhouse School, I contributed to Niemen Lab's 2025 Predictions for Journalism series, and I've discussed my work for Futurism during appearances on NPR, CNN, the BBC, the CBC, and more. I grew up in rural Pennsylvania and attended the University of Massachusetts Amherst, where I played Division I field hockey for the Minutewomen as a midfielder. Since then, I've lived in New Orleans, Louisiana and Manhattan, New York. I spend my free time running, reading, perusing archival fashion, and searching for the world’s best negroni. I also have a debonair tuxedo cat, Westley, who's named after "The Princess Bride." ### Author social links [Bluesky]()