India's moon rover put in 'sleep mode' after finishing mission assignments

India's space agency said its moon rover has completed its assignments less than two weeks after its historic lunar south pole landing and is now in "sleep mode" until it can be woken up for more assignments.

"The Rover completed its assignments. It is now safely parked and set into Sleep mode," the Indian Space Research Organization said Saturday on X, the platform formerly known as Twitter. 

The rover's battery is fully charged, but its payloads are turned off while its receiver remains on, the agency also said, adding: "Hoping for a successful awakening for another set of assignments! Else, it will forever stay there as India's lunar ambassador."

With the Chandrayaan-3 lander and rover, India became the first country to ever successfully land on the lunar south pole. 

The rover was searching for frozen water on the surface of the moon, which scientists believe could help future astronaut missions or be used to make rocket fuel. The space agency did not state whether the rover discovered frozen water. 

The Indian agency did say earlier last week that the rover confirmed sulfur and other elements on the moon's surface including iron, calcium, aluminum, oxygen, silicon and others, according to The Hill.

India's successful landing came days after Russia's Roscosmos space agency said its spacecraft crashed during an attempted lunar landing.

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