While the whole nation was expressing a feeling of sympathy and encouragement for ISRO, a ray of hope has just emerged few hours ago. The lander Vikran has finally been spotted and our expert team of ISRO scientists are trying to establish contact. The ISRO chief quoted, “it must have been a hard landing” for Chandryaan 2.
The incomplete Chandrayaan 2 mission
It was just yesterday midnight, 7 September, that the final landing of Vikran for Chandrayaan 2 mission went silent . Today, the Chief of ISRO had reported that the team has finally spotted the lander and is trying to make a contact. The lander was founded on the lunar surface.
Shivan told PTI
“Yes, we have located the lander on the Lunar surface. It must have been a hard-landing.”
Shivan was further asked by the media and fellow employees of ISRO, that is the lander damaged, to which he replied;
“We do not know and it would take approximately 2 weeks to establish the contact with the lander on lunar surface.”
Details on Chandrayaan 2 on 7 September
The Chandrayaan 2 was just 2 km above from the surface of the moon. The speed at which it was travelling was 60 meter/sec and it had to drop it do 48 meters/sec. However, the contact was lost in a moment and ISRO was not able to spot Vikram.
Shivan in an emotional state announced
“Vikran lander descent was as planned and normal performance was observed to an altitude of 2.1 km. Subsequently, the communications from the lander to the ground station was lost. The data is being analysed.”
Chandrayaan 2 is not a complete failure
If you are sitting back disappointed on the loss of signal from such a short distance, then we would like to inform you that the orbitor also known as main spacecraft will be revolving around the moon for at least an year from a distance of 100 km. By this all the important data and images will be collected.
About the mission
- The budget for the Chandrayaan 2 mission was 978 crore.
- Chandrayaan 2 was initiated on 22 July 2019 and was launched from Satish Dhawan space Center.
- The Orbitor had reached the orbit of the moon on 20 August 2019.
- This mission was a successor to Chandrayaan 1.
- The mission gained approval in the year 2008 and since then hundreds of scientists worked on it.
- Orbitor, rover and lander were the main parts of Chandrayaan 2.
- In order to map lunar surface, orbitor was carrying eight scientific payloads.
- Despite the fact that, this mission had not reached it goals, it has gained appreciation from NASA (National Aeronautics and Space Adminstration).
NASA tweeted;
Station that “space is hard”, we are looking forward to future opportunities to explore the solar system with ISRO. We commend ISRO’s attempt to land their Chandrayaan 2 mission on the Moon’s South Pole. You have inspired us with your journey and look forward to future opportunities to explore our solar system together.”