chandrayaan-3

India's Chandrayaan-3 Moon mission:

Chandrayaan-3 is the third mission in the Chandrayaan program, a series of lunar exploration missions developed by the Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO). The mission launched on July 14, 2023 from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre in Sriharikota, A.P .. The spacecraft entered lunar orbit on August 5 and the lander touched down in the lunar south polar region on August 23.

The lander and rover were named Vikram and Pragyan, respectively. The lander is named after Vikram Sarabhai, a leader in rocketry and space science who influenced the establishment of ISRO.

The lander and rover were put into sleep mode on September 2nd. They need sunlight to charge their batteries and function. ISRO hopes they will reawaken around September 22 when the next lunar day starts.

The rover performed various in-situ experiments. The Laser-Induced Breakdown Spectroscope (LIBS) instrument onboard the rover confirmed the presence of sulfur in the lunar surface near the south pole.The LIBS also detected Al, Ca, Fe, Cr, Ti, Mn, Si, and O.