Bengaluru | Jagran News Desk: Communications from Chandrayaan-2’s lander ‘Vikram’ was lost during the descent to the Lunar surface in the early hours of Saturday and data is being analysed, ISRO Chairman K Sivan said.
“Vikram lander descent was as planned and normal performance was observed up to an altitude of 2.1 km. Subsequently, the communications from lander to ground station was lost,” said ISRO chairman K Sivam.
The lander was scheduled to make soft-landing at 1.53 am, but went incommunicado just moments before.
Here are the ten points on India’s second unmanned lunar mission:
1. The Chandrayaan-2 -- named after pioneer of India’s space programme, physicist Dr Vikram Sarabhai -- was launched from Sriharikota on July 22.
2. The mission’s total cost was less than the budget of Hollywood blockbuster ‘Avengers Endgame’. The total cost of the Chandrayaan 2 mission is estimated at 124 million US dollars, which includes 31 million US dollars for the launch and 93 million US dollars for the satellite.
3. The Chandrayaan-2 was taken into the moon's orbit on August 20 after a performing a tricky Lunar Orbit Insertion (LOI) manoeuvre.
4. After the spacecraft entered its final orbit, the lander got separated with the orbiter and lowered to enter into a 100 km X 30 km orbit around the moon.
5. The lander then started its descent onto the lunar surface which the ISRO chief called the most terrifying 15 minutes.
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6. However, all communications with Chandrayaan-2’s lander Vikram was lost when it was just 2.1 km from the lunar surface. The lander was scheduled to make soft-landing at 1:53 am, but went incommunicado just moments before.
7. The ISRO later announced that all communications were lost with Chandrayaan-2. “Vikram lander descent was as planned and normal performance was observed up to an altitude of 2.1 km. Subsequently, the communications from the lander to ground stations was lost,” announced ISRO shief K Sivan.
8. Following the setback, Prime Minister Narendra Modi told crestfallen ISRO scientists that the nation is proud of them and asked them to "be courageous". "There are ups and downs in life. This is not a small achievement. The nation in proud of you. Hope for the best. I congratulate you. You all have done a big service to nation, science and mankind. I am with you all the way, move forward bravely," he said.
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9. However, ISRO is still planning to use the Chandrayaan-2 orbiter, which continues to be in its orbit around the Moon, to map the Vikram lander's landing site to hunt for clues.
10. The mission life of the orbiter will be one year while that of the rover was to be one lunar day which is equal to 14 earth days.