India’s lunar lander and rover have been put to bed as the Sun begins to set on the Moon, the country’s space research agency Isro has said.
They have been put in “sleep mode” and “will fall asleep next to each other once the solar power is depleted and the battery is drained”, it said.
Isro added that it hoped they would reawaken “around 22 September” when the next lunar day starts.
The lander and rover need sunlight to charge their batteries and function.
The Vikram lander – carrying a rover called Pragyaan in its belly – touched down on the Moon’s little-explored south pole on 23 August.