‘You have inspired us with your journey’: NASA praises ISRO

September 8: “Space is hard. We commend ISRO’s attempt to land their Chandrayaan2 mission on the Moon’s South Pole,” NASA said in a tweet. “You have inspired us with your journey and look forward to future opportunities to explore our solar system together,” it said.

After ISRO’s Mission Control Centre lost communication with the lander, there was a feeling of disappointment among the scientists. Prime Minister Narendra Modi and many other noted persons, however, stood by ISRO and congratulated the organisation for the arduous effort.

Space is hard. We commend @ISRO’s attempt to land their #Chandrayaan2 mission on the Moon’s South Pole. You have inspired us with your journey and look forward to future opportunities to explore our solar system together. https://t.co/pKzzo9FDLL

— NASA (@NASA) September 7, 2019

On 7 September, everything was going on as per the plan of ISRO. The initial parts of the descent, as engines fired to slow it down from orbit, went smoothly. But less than two miles above the surface, the trajectory diverged from the planned path. The mission control room fell silent as communications from the lander were lost.

ISRO Chief K.Sivan has said that the descent of Chandrayaan-2’s ‘Vikram’ lander was normal as they had planned till an altitude of 2.1 kms from the lunar surface after which communication between lander and ground station was lost.

In what appears to be an excellent news for all Indians, ISRO Chief K Sivan announced on Sunday noon that the exact location of Chandrayaan-2s Vikram lander has been found out. K Sivan said, “We’ve found the location of Vikram Lander on lunar surface and orbiter has clicked a thermal image of Lander. But there is no communication yet. We are trying to have contact. It will be communicated soon.”

A senior official associated with the mission said, “Progressively… as time goes by… it’s difficult [to establish link].” However, with the “right orientation”, it can still generate power and recharge batteries with solar panels, he said. “But it looks less and less probable, progressively.”

The location of the Vikram module “proves beyond doubt” that the orbiter is functioning well, space expert Ajay Lele said. “The orbiter is the main element of the mission as it will work for more than a year,” he said.  He said that with the orbiter working fine, 90-95 per cent of the mission objective had been achieved. Former ISRO scientist S Nambi Narayanan said the chances of re-establishing communication looked bleak as the lander may have crash-landed.

Also Read: ISRO locates Vikram lander of Chandrayaan-2 on Moon, efforts on to establish connection