India’s Vikram lander was really close to the Moon’s surface on Friday night, after covering a distance of 384,400 km from the Earth following a lift-off on July 22 on the Chandrayaan spacecraft.
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And then, in the early hours of Saturday, September 7, communication was lost between Isro’s headquarters in Bengaluru and the lander during the 15-minute complex manoeuvre to guide it to a soft landing on the Lunar surface.
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Indian space scientists are still analysing the data.
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The Indian media reported the “setback” only as temporary and Indian PM Narendra Modi promised a “new dawn” in India’s space programme.
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Successful orbiter
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Yet, only 5 per cent of India’s Lunar mission may have been “lost” — the Vikram the lander and Pragyan the rover.
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The remaining 95 per cent, the much bigger “Chandrayaan 2” orbiter itself — is orbiting the moon successfully, according to an Indian Space Research Organisation (Isro) scientist.
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The fate and the status of Vikram India’s moon lander remains unknown — whether it crash-landed or the communication link simply was cut — but all is not lost in terms of the overall Chandrayaan-2 mission.
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Indian scientists are analysing data on Vikram and Pragyan.
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“The Vikram lander descent was (ongoing) as planned and normal performance was observed,” Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) chairman K. Sivan said in the control room at the southern city of Bangalore.
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Commucation lost
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“Subsequently the communication from lander to ground station was lost. The data is being analysed,” he said.
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But it was the final few minutes of powered descent of the Vikram moon lander, released by the Chandrayaan 2 orbiter, that the lander went through “15 minutes of terror”.
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Then at 2.1km from the Lunar surface, the lander lost contact with Isro, in the early hours of September 7.
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The Isro chief broke down as PM Narendra Modi hugged him following the moon landing “glitch”.
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After Modi addressed the scientists early on Saturday morning, he reached out to Sivan to shake his hand but the scientists broke down — at which the PM hugged him with words of encouragement.
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47-day space journey
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After a 47-day journey and the anticipation of 1.35 billion people, India attempted to soft-land a probe on the Moon for the first time.
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However, most of the mission remains intact.
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“Only 5 per cent of the mission has been lost – Vikram the lander and Pragyan the rover – while the remaining 95 per cent – that is the Chandrayaan-2 orbiter – is orbiting the moon successfully,” an official of Indian Space Research Organisation (Isro).
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PM Narendra Modi, who witnessed the attempted landing, spoke to the Isro team and said the nation is proud of them. He addressed India’s scientists.
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Till date, only three countries — Russia, the US and China—have successfully soft-landed on the Moon.
###Chandrayaan-2 mission###
On July 22, the Rs 978 crore ($136.4 million) Chandrayaan-2 mission was launched into space by India’s heavy lift rocket Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle-Mark III GSLV Mk III with textbook success.
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Inside the ISRO control room, Modi interacted with scientists and congratulated them for their efforts.
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He said: “It was not a small achievement and the country is proud of you. Be courageous.”
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In a tweet early on Saturday, Modi 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! Chairman @isro gave updates on Chandrayaan-2. We remain hopeful and will continue working hard on our space programme.”
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