The Robot in the Moon

India’s first lunar orbiter has signed off:

“With communication totally lost, there is no transmission or receipt of signals between Chandrayaan-I and ground control stations,” ISRO spokesperson S. Satish said.

“Radio contact with Chandrayaan-I spacecraft was abruptly lost at 0130 hrs (IST) on August 29, 2009. The Deep Space Network at Byalalu near Bangalore received the data from Chandrayaan-I during the previous orbit up to 0025 hrs (IST),” ISRO said on Saturday.

After 3,400 orbits, you can’t blame a satellite for needing a rest.