Curtains down on Lander Vikram, last hopes of reviving ‘Vikram’ ends

September 22: Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) has expressed gratitude for the support it received after the space agency lost contact with the lander of Chandrayaan-2, minutes before touchdown on the Moon on 7 September. “Thank you for standing by us. We will continue to keep going forward propelled by the hopes and dreams of Indians across the world!” ISRO said in a tweet.

Lander Vikram, with rover Pragyan housed inside it, lost communication with ground stations early on September 7 during its final descent, just 2.1 km above the lunar surface, minutes before the planned touch-down on the Moon. Isro has been trying without success to establish contact with Vikram. Even Nasa has been sending radio frequency to Vikram with the help of its deep space network ground stations. But it seems the US space agency also did not get any positive response as no data or image has been made public.

Thank you for standing by us. We will continue to keep going forward — propelled by the hopes and dreams of Indians across the world! pic.twitter.com/vPgEWcwvIa

— ISRO (@isro) September 17, 2019

From Saturday onwards, 14 Earth nights started in the south pole, which will witness freezing temperatures of over -240 degree Celsius. In such extreme temperature, electronic components of the lander and ‘Pragyan’ rover housed within Vikram will most likely get damaged and the chance to energise the lander with solar energy will be lost.

The space agency after losing contact with the lander had said that till date, 90 to 95% of the Chandrayaan-2 mission objectives have been accomplished and it would continue contribute to Lunar science, notwithstanding the loss of communication with the Lander.