- By Abhinav Gupta
- Sat, 07 Sep 2019 03:38 AM (IST)
- Source:JND
New Delhi | Jagran News Desk: In what may cast shadow at India’s ambitious Moon mission, communication with Chandrayaan-2’s lander Vikram was lost 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.
“Vikram descent was normal up to altitude of 2.1 km. Then we lost communication. Data is being analysed,” said ISRO chief K Sivan.
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.
Later in a tweet, PM Modi said that entire nation is proud of the scientists at ISRO and that he is still hopeful for a successfull landing.
"India is proud of our scientists! They’ve given their best and have always made India proud. These are moments to be courageous, and courageous we will be! Chairman @isro gave updates on Chandrayaan-2. We remain hopeful and will continue working hard on our space programme," he tweeted.
As the powered descent of the lander began at around 1.38 am, scientists at ISRO Telemetry Tracking and Command Network (ISTRAC) here were glued to their terminals, anticipating the soft landing.
They clapped and cheered as the moon lander completed the rough braking phase before the fine braking phase started.
It was then that the scientists started becoming tense and went into a huddle.
ISRO Chairman K Sivan was seen engaged in intense discussions with some scientists. Soon he announced that the Vikram lander descent was as planned and normal performance observed upto altitude of 2.1 km.
Subsequently communications from lander to ground station was lost, he said, adding the data was being analysed.
Before the mission, Sivan had said that the last 15 minutes of the lander's descent would be the most crucial as ISRO was handling such an operation for the first time.
"The last 15 minutes during the final descent of the lander will be the most terrifying moments as we will be handling this operation for the first time," he had said.
When the mission was cleared by former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on September 18, 2008, the project was to be a joint venture with Russia, whose space agency Roscosmos was to provide the lander. However, the deal fell through and ISRO decided to go solo in 2012.
About Chandrayaan-2
Chandrayaan-2, a follow-on mission to the Chandrayaan-1 venture launched more than a decade ago, comprises an orbiter, lander (Vikram) and rover (Pragyan).
The mission life of the orbiter will be one year while that of the lander and rover will be one lunar day which is equal to 14 earth days.
The Chandrayaan-2 is a Rs 978 crore unmanned moon mission (satellite cost Rs 603 crore, GSLV MK III cost Rs 375 crore).
India's Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle, GSLV MkIII-M1 successfully launched the 3,840-kg Chandrayaan-2 spacecraft into Earth's orbit on July 22.
The spacecraft began its journey towards the moon leaving the earth's orbit in the dark hours on August 14, after a crucial manoeuvre called Trans Lunar Insertion that was carried out by ISRO to place the spacecraft on "Lunar Transfer Trajectory."
The spacecraft successfully entered the lunar orbit on August 20 by performing Lunar Orbit Insertion (LOI) manoeuvre.
On September 2, 'Vikram' successfully separated from the orbiter, following which two de-orbiting manoeuvres were performed to bring the lander closer to the Moon.
The health of the spacecraft is being continuously monitored from the Mission Operations Complex at ISTRAC with support from Indian Deep Space Network (IDSN) antennas at Bylalu, near Bengaluru.
The orbiter carries eight scientific payloads for mapping the lunar surface and study the exosphere (outer atmosphere) of the Moon, according to ISRO officials.