India has located the Vikram Lander, but she still does not communicate with her home country

Sunday, September 8, the Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) announced that it had located Vikram, the landing element of their Chandrayaan-2 mission. The research began almost immediately after the space agency lost contact with the robotic space robot, which had taken a few moments before landing on the lunar surface (Friday, September 6).

The location of the LG has been confirmed by the Chandrayaan-2 orbiter, who managed to spot the LG with its high resolution thermal imaging camera. However, ISRO has not yet restored communication with the LG, which means they do not know if the LG (or the Pragyan rover, which he wears) survived the descent.

Kailasavadivoo Sivan, president of the Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO), said in a statement to Asian News International (ANI):

"We have the location of Vikram Lander on [the] lunar surface and [the] orbiter clicked on a thermal image of [the] Lander. We try to make a contact. He will communicate soon.

He also added that it was "premature to say anything" for some. This statement was taken up by an official update posted on the ISRO website. Chandrayaan-2 mission page:

"Vikram Lander was located by the Chandrayaan-2 orbiter, but no communication with him at the moment. Every effort is made to establish communication with LG. "

Indications of a possible landing problem began when Vikram reached an altitude of 2.1 km (1.3 mi) from the lunar surface. At this point, the undercarriage started to deviate from the intended course, resulting in a loss of communication, just as mission controllers were expecting to receive a touchdown confirmation.

The ISRO Mission Control Center in Bengaluru, India, immediately indicated that it would analyze the orbiter's data to determine what happened. Naturally, there were many concerns that Vikram had not managed to land smoothly on the surface and had in fact crashed. As early as this weekend, ISRO confirmed that it was probably the case.

"Yes, we have located the lander on the lunar surface," Sivan told the Times of India. "It must have been a hard landing."

Attempts to restore communications are underway, but ISRO is likely to end its efforts by September 21, when the landing gear was expected to be completed. operational up to. Mission planners for the Lander to set up in the Southern Polar Area deploy the Pragryan rover, and stay operational for a single lunar day (the equivalent of about 14 terrestrial days).

At this point, many have their fingers crossed for ISRO to be able to snatch success from the jaws of failure. If contact can be restored, India will be the fourth country in the world to put a crawler on the moon (even if the soft landing qualifier has to be abandoned).

However, even if the contact can not be restored with the lander, the mission is hardly a failure. the Chandrayaan-2 Orbiter is still operational and will orbit the Moon for the next seven years. In accordance with the tradition of his predecessor, he will study the lunar surface with the help of his suite of eight scientific instruments and the data will serve to guide future missions of ISRO.

India remains a growing power in space and setbacks are an unfortunate but inevitable part of the space exploration process.

Further reading: ANI, Time of India