The whole nation was hoping for a new dawn as a space-faring nation on Saturday, but the celebration turned into despair as the fate of the Chandrayaan 2 moon mission is unknown as the Chandrayaan-2 lander lost contact with Earth minutes before it was to land on the Moon. After being sent into space from ISRO’s launch pad in Sriharikota on July 22, India’s most ambitious deep-space mission to date traveled 3,84,400kms, before eventually being undone merely 2.1kms from the lunar surface.
Chandrayaan 2: ISRO Not Losing Hope
According to the statement from ISRO, the Vikram lander had successfully completed the rough braking phase after descending on to the Moon’s surface. It then started off its fine braking procedure and shortly after that ISRO had lost communication with the Vikram Lander.
As per the space agency, ISRO was trying to establish contact with Vikram Lander during the final phase of descent on the lunar surface. Crucially, this happened just when ISRO started plans for the absolute navigation i.e. when the lander would reach around 400 meters above the landing site to commence vertical landing procedure. However, at an altitude of 2.1km, Vikram lander went dark and all data communications were lost.
Chandrayaan 2 Moon Live Updates
For those who were watching the live visuals on their television, there was no clue as to what was happening apart from the worried faces of the Isro scientists. It became clear when the word came in that ISRO had lost touch with the Vikram lander.
ISRO chief K Sivan said, “Vikram Lander descent was as planned and normal performance was observed up to an altitude of 2.1km. Subsequently, the communication from the lander to the ground station was lost. The data being analysed.”
As such, there is no concrete information about the fate of the Vikram lander. However, considering that the signal from the equipment has gone dark, it is quite possible that we may have lost it to the most crucial and difficult phase of the mission that has been described by K Sivan as “the 15 minutes of terror” a while ago.
Addressing the scientists after the link with Chandrayaan-2 lander was snapped, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said, “Nation is proud of you, be courageous.” Congratulating team Chandrayaan 2 on their achievement, he said “There are ups and downs in life. This is not a small achievement. The nation is proud of you. Hope for the best. I congratulate you. You all have done a big service to the nation, science, and mankind. I am with you all the way, move forward bravely.”
