The much-anticipated Chandrayaan 2 soft landing hasn’t happened as expected since the Vikram lander has abruptly stopped. The Vikram lander carrying Pragyan rover lost communication with the ISRO ground station just 2 km above the lunar surface.
The Vikram lander was supposed to descent on the surface of the moon and then the rover will slide from the lander and travels 500m on the lunar surface. ISRO tweeted that rough breaking of Vikram Lander has ended and fine braking phase has started.
Rough breaking of #VikramLander ends and Fine braking phase starts#Chandrayaan2 #ISRO
— ISRO (@isro) September 6, 2019
The problem occurred at 1.52 AM when the Vikram lost contact with the ISRO Missions Operations Complex in Bengaluru. The Indian space agency revealed that the performance of the lander was just perfect for a smooth soft landing when the path was changed. We could hear claps and happiness on the face of scientists when ISRO managed to perform the final descent of the lander at 1.38 AM but it was dead silence for over 10 minutes.
Rough breaking of #VikramLander ends and Fine braking phase starts#Chandrayaan2 #ISRO
— ISRO (@isro) September 6, 2019
The Vikram lander completed the rough breaking phase and the ISRO lost contact after 13 minutes after the start of the descent phase. The lander was just two kilometers away from the surface of the moon.
This is Mission Control Centre. #VikramLander descent was as planned and normal performance was observed up to an altitude of 2.1 km. Subsequently, communication from Lander to the ground stations was lost. Data is being analyzed.#ISRO
— ISRO (@isro) September 6, 2019
The initial reports suggest that the lander failed to bring down the speed from 6048 km per hour to 7 km per hour, which is required to make a soft landing. The performance of the lander was real perfect until an altitude of 2.1 kms. The lander travelled a distance of 585 km in a parabolic path before it failed to establish contact with the ground station.
In a statement released from the mission center, ISRO chief K. Sivan confirmed the loss of communication and the data from the Vikram lander was being analyzed to know the exact reason. Sivan met Prime Minister Narendra Modi before the announcements and apprised him of the development. Modi reportedly asked him to calm down and not to take back because of the failure.
We still don’t know the status of the lander. There is a probability that the lander could have crash-landed on the surface of the moon but there is no confirmation.
The Orbiter, which was part of the Chandrayaan 2 will continue to function for another one year and it could generate images and signals that could probably give a clue as to the current status of the lander. Even though the Vikram lander failed to land properly, the Orbiter will continue to function for one year and will send pictures and data to the base station. The orbiter had already sent a few images of the surface of the moon.
Modi addressed ISRO team after the announcement and he boosted the morale of the employees. He added that we had achieved too much over the last 3 months and this is not a small thing. The whole mission was fabulous and the last-minute failure is part of the Science. He added that ISRO will bounce back and the best will come soon. Please checkout the address to the nation by Narendra Modi.
Watch Live: Honorable Prime Minister Shri. Narendra Modi Addressing the Nation https://t.co/SAGMyi1Nkp
— ISRO (@isro) September 7, 2019
We expect that Team ISRo will sit together and refresh the lander system by adopting the latest technology. The space agency should analyze the cause of the problem and should work on it to create a foolproof mechanism.
No doubt, the whole Chandrayaan 2 was successful expect the final 15 minutes. The chairman had earlier revealed that the final 15 minutes is he worried about. If ISRO manages to find out the problem area and design the lander accordingly, we could soft land on the moon.
