Vikram is silent because he can not speak! But Isro?

The Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO), easily the Indian standard bearer of research and advanced technology, has not missed two things: success and goodwill.

The goodwill it enjoys comes from all the successful missions it has accomplished over the past 50 years – Isro was established on August 15, 1969 – and which have benefited Indian crores. From fishermen to law enforcement, from teachers to doctors, Isro has touched the lives of everyone through its programs.

But good will is not limited to success. India also faced Isro during many difficult times, and this support could be better presented than last week, as he tried unsuccessfully to land softly on the lunar surface of the landing gear. Chandrayaan-2, Vikram.

While Isro tries to figure out what was wrong with Vikram – he should know it now – which remains calm as he deviated from his pre-planned trajectory and landed on Moon in the early hours of 7 September, the details of the agency continue to be elusive.

Isro is as silent as Vikram, but his behavior is less acceptable. Vikram is unable to communicate with Isro, but Isro does not seem to want to communicate in this time of crisis.

Of course, its chairman, K Sivan, is voiced. He delivered speeches on several television channels, starting with the government-controlled Doordarshan. He also spoke with me twice last week, but I called him at least 32 times for that. Other journalists I know have had a similar experience.

The media understands that Sivan is a busy person and reacts when he has the time. But he has become the only person anyone can get information on most of the things that happen behind the high walls of the space agency and journalists have no choice but to disturb him, while he must probably focus on something else.

He probably would not have as many calls from reporters if the communications team of the space agency talked to the media, or even broadcast only effective statements containing enough information for the general public. But this has not been the case in recent months. This became more evident last week.

So far, aside from Sivan's statements – which were long when he spoke of the Chandrayaan-2 Orbiter, but concise and evasive about issues concerning Vikram and his health – there have only been two specific official releases about Vikram.

These two versions together contain 64 words and Isro did not provide any information. Here are the two official statements issued by Isro's communications team, reproduced on the website:

The first, dated September 7, 2019, reads, "This is the Mission Control Center. The descent of Vikram Lander was as planned and normal performance was observed up to an altitude of 2.1 km. Subsequently, the communication between the undercarriage and the ground stations was lost. The data is being analyzed. It's 37 words.

The second, dated September 10, 2019, reads: "Vikram Lander was located by the Chandrayaan-2 Orbiter, but no communication with him to date. Every effort is made to establish communication with the LG. "It's 27 words.

The communications team issued a third official statement dated Sept. 7. This 288-word statement speaks to the complexity of the Chandrayaan-2 mission, why the orbiter is a critical part of the mission, and how its operation makes the mission 95% successful. All this was also repeated by Sivan.

A week has now passed since the unsuccessful attempt at soft-land, and communication continues to be difficult to reach. And here's what one insider observed: "It's ironic that an organization that has managed to connect an entire subcontinent, bringing them communication technology, is so failing to communicate with the masses when a something is wrong. "

There is no doubt that Chandrayaan-2 was a complex mission and that Isro should be proud to have placed an orbiter around Moon with more sophisticated scientific instruments than Chandrayaan-1, a mission of Orbiter to Moon, and the first try of India. at this.

But it is also a fact that India learned to place an orbiter in lunar orbit more than ten years ago. The highlight of Chandrayaan-2 was its attempt to place a probe on Moon, then deploy a rover that would also conduct experiments, which was not done.

That said, all those who master the space sciences and have a knowledge of technology that allows them to know the complexity. For Isro, even the average Indian understands that the margin of error in space science is almost zero and that it is the space agency.

So maybe it's not so bad for Isro to tell what happened after all. The agency may not have determined exactly what might have caused Vikram to change course and crash, but she already knows what happened and when. And is it too much to ask a word to fill the void? No.