Mission Chandrayan 2 updates : Vikram lander lying tilted on moon, but in single piece

September 07, 2019
India Narendra Modi Video

Vikram there on moon as a single piece, not broken into pieces. It’s in a tilted position

New Delhi: Chandrayaan-2’s ‘Vikram’ lander is lying in a titled position on the surface of the moon but is in one piece, an official of the Indian Space Research Organisation has said amid efforts by the space agency to re-establish communication with it.

Vikram lander, named after the father of India’s space programme Vikram Sarabhai, had lost contact with the orbiter of the Chandrayaan-2 mission two minutes after it was to soft-land on the lunar surface near the moon’s south pole. Isro chief K Sivan had yesterday said the lunar orbiter, which is going around the moon at an altitude of 100km, had taken a thermal image of the lander on the moon’s surface. The orbiter’s camera is the highest resolution camera in any lunar mission so far. The effort to re-establish contact would continue for 14 days from Saturday – the mission life of the lander.

The thermal image, an ISRO official said, shows that the lander had a hard-landing close to the location where it was planned to touchdown. “The lander is there as a single piece, not broken into pieces. It’s in a tilted position,” an ISRO official associated with the mission said on Monday, according to news agency PTI.

Officials have indicated that the inverted or titled position of the lander had reduced the possibility of success in re-establishing contact with the lander since the antennas had to be pointed towards the ground station or the orbiter.

Quoting an Isro official, news agency PTI said the lander generating power was not an area of concern since it has “solar panels all around it” and it also has “internal batteries” which “are not used much.”

PM Narendra Modi’s latest remark on Chandrayan: Those 100 seconds and ISRO spirit

PM was speaking at Rohtak in Haryana today afternoon.

Location of Vikram Lander found, image taken, efforts underway to establish contact

ISRO Chief, K Sivan to news agency ANI: We have 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.

NASA tweets

Principal Scientific Adviser, Govt. of India tweets(thread)

ISRO statement in the evening on Saturday

Chandrayaan – 2 Latest Update

Chandrayaan-2 mission was a highly complex mission, which represented a significant technological leap compared to the previous missions of ISRO, which brought together an Orbiter, Lander and Rover to explore the unexplored south pole of the Moon.

Since the launch of Chandrayaan-2 on July 22, 2019, not only India but the whole world watched its progress from one phase to the next with great expectations and excitement.

This was a unique mission which aimed at studying not just one area of the Moon but all the areas combining the exosphere, the surface as well as the sub-surface of the moon in a single mission.

The Orbiter has already been placed in its intended orbit around the Moon and shall enrich our understanding of the moon’s evolution and mapping of the minerals and water molecules in the Polar Regions, using its eight state-of-the-art scientific instruments.

The Orbiter camera is the highest resolution camera (0.3m) in any lunar mission so far and shall provide high resolution images which will be immensely useful to the global scientific community.

The precise launch and mission management has ensured a long life of almost 7 years instead of the planned one year. The Vikram Lander followed the planned descent trajectory from its orbit of 35 km to just below 2 km above the surface.

All the systems and sensors of the Lander functioned excellently until this point and proved many new technologies such as variable thrust propulsion technology used in the Lander.

The success criteria was defined for each and every phase of the mission and till date 90 to 95% of the mission objectives have been accomplished and will continue contribute to Lunar science , notwithstanding the loss of communication with the Lander.

Mission Chandrayan-2 95% successful:Sivan to DD News

PM Narendra Modi consoles an emotional ISRO Chairman K. Sivan

Priceless moments at the ISRO Centre in Bengaluru. PM Modi and ISRO Chairman Dr. K. Sivan got emotional and their gestures show the warmth and solidarity.

Via twitter

What a moving and reassuring moment. Makes you recall your own weak moments when you needed such support and inspires you to be such a support to people around you.

PM Narendra Modi shows true leadership by consoling the disheartened ISRO chief and team. In an unscripted moment he sends the important signal India must not lose self confidence in important national ventures

What a way to encourage your nation’s top scientist during a tough moment..!!

A true leader takes the team along with him, supports, stands for them and motivates during rough times.
Every Indian loves you to the moon & back.

This happens only and only when one has put his Heart & Soul into it! Something he believed day in, day out! He lived it! Walked it! Ate it! Slept it! Breathed it!! They are so passionate about their project . Losing it is worse than losing a beloved. I understand their grief .

This happens only and only when one has put his Heart & Soul into it! Something he believed day in, day out! He lived it! Walked it! Ate it! Slept it! Breathed it!!

Dear ISRO the communication isn’t lost, you have successfully communicated with the tens of millions of students who are still awake discussing what exactly may have happened. You have succeeded!

Only people who put their blood, sweat and tears into a project can understand the tears of Dr Sivan. Even warriors are human beings. Even the Gods cry sometimes…

Dr. Kailasavadivoo Sivan a son of farmer who from Kanyakumari district has rejected to work for NASA and now working in ISRO
Everyone should proud of him and the entire team of Chandrayaan2

K Sivan cried, Narendra Modi almost did. What unites them is both are sons of the soil, coming from very ordinary beginnings. Humility personified.

Proud of you and your team Sivan sir. We are one of the few countries in the world to have conducted a mission of this scale!

PM Modi addresses the Nation from ISRO Control Centre, Bengaluru | PMO

Even as the Chandrayan 2 Mission lost its communication with the Control Centre at the ISRO headquarters, Prime Minister Narendra Modi who was witnessing the descent of the Chandrayan 2 along with the ISRO Scientists at Bengaluru said “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!”

In a personalized effort to boost the morale of the scientists, Prime Minister said “The country is with you, I am with you. The effort was worth it and so was the journey “

“You are those people who work for Mother India’s victory and struggle for it and have a grit and determination to make her proud. “

“I could feel and sense your despondency and emotions last night. I was amongst you when the communication from the Vehicle was lost. There are several unanswered questions but I am sure you would find the answers. I know there was hard work behind.”

“We might have faced a small setback in our journey but this would not let down our zeal and enthusiasm to achieve our goals”

Our resolve strengthens now.

“The whole nation was awake last night in solidarity with our scientist sisters and brothers. We came very close to the surface of the moon and that effort is highly laudable. “

“We are proud of our space programme and scientists, their hard work and determination has ensured a better life not only for our citizens but also other nations. It is their outcome of their innovative zeal that several people got better quality of life including better health care and education.”

“India knows that there would be many more proud moments to rejoice.”

“When it comes to space programme the best is yet to come.”

“There are new frontiers to discover and new places to go. We will rise to the occasion and scale newer heights of success. “

“To our scientists I want to say, India is with you. True to your nature, you ventured into a place where no one had never gone before.”

“You have gone as close as you could. I can proudly say the effort was worth it and so was the journey

Our team worked hard and travelled far, and those teachings will always remain with us”

“The learning from today will get us a stronger and better tomorrow”

“I thank the families of our space scientists. Their silent but valuable support remains a major strength in our effort.”

“Sisters and brothers, resilience and tenacity are centre to India’s ethos. In our glorious history we may have faced moments that could have crushed us but we never gave up. This is the reason our civilization stands tall.”

In our glorious history we may have faced moments that could have crushed us but we never gave up. This is the reason our civilization stands tall.”

“We have made historical achievements. I know that ISRO also does not failures to let it down”

“There will be a new dawn and a better tomorrow. Without worrying about results we go ahead and that is our history.”

I have confidence in you. Your dreams are higher than mine. And I am fully confident on your hopes.

I am meeting you to get inspiration from you. You are a sea of inspiration and a living evidence of inspiration

I congratulate you all and wish you all the best in your endeavours.

Vikram hasn’t crashed, communication channel between orbiter and lander is still on: Former ISRO Director

(ANI)

ISRO Director D Sasikumar on Saturday said that the communication loss with Vikram lander may not have been due to crash-landing.

“We have to find out from the communication data whether it is a soft landing or it is a crash landing. In my opinion, it is not a crash landing because the communication channel is on between the lander and the orbiter. It should be intact. So, let us hope after the analysis done, we may be able to get the final figure,” he said.

The communication data which is missing is being analysed now, he said.

Earlier, Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) said in a tweet, “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.”

The Vikram Lander successfully separated from Chandrayaan-2 Orbiter on September 2. The Chandrayaan-2 Orbiter continues to orbit the Moon.

The Vikram lander was planned to land on the far side of the moon between 1:30 am to 2:30 am on the intervening night of Friday-Saturday. This would have been followed by rover (Pragyan) roll-out between 5:30 am to 6:30 am.

After revolving around the Earth’s orbit for nearly 23 days, the craft began its journey to the moon on August 14.

The mission took off from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre in Sriharikota on July 22.

India’s second mission to the moon was approved by the cabinet in September 2008, just before the launch of Chandrayaan 1.

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