After successfull de-orbiting maneuver on September 04, 2019, Chandrayaan 2 lander was ready to land on Moon’ surface on September 07, 2019. But just minutes before the landing, the ISRO lost communication with Vikram, when it was 2.1km from the lunar surface. Now, the data is being analysed.
Speaking about the situation, ISRO chief Dr K Sivan said everything was normal till the time Vikram lander was 2.1 km above Moon’s surface.
The Vikram lander and Pragyan rover were supposed to land on the moon and carry out observations and experiments for 14 days. The Orbiter component of Chandrayaan-2, however, was doing fine and continued to communicate with the control room.
Chandrayaan-2 was India’s first attempt at landing a spacecraft on the moon. Until now, only 3 countries have made successfull soft landing on the moon.
ISRO took twitter and reported:
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
Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who witnessed the event attempted landing asked ISRO scientists to be courageous. He tweeted:
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.
— Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) September 6, 2019
He also addressed our hardworking space scientists.
Addressing our hardworking space scientists. Watch. https://t.co/rPRfGBQLJQ
— Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) September 7, 2019