Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) said on Tuesday that the lander of Chandrayaan-2, which made an aborted landing on the moon, has been found but communication from it was yet to be established. The ISRO confirmed this morning in a message posted on its official Twitter account, adding that “all possible efforts were being made to re-establish contact”.
Thermal images of the lander had been shot by the orbiter and it was confirmed by the space agency that there was a possibility of a hard landing that led to snapping of the communication from Vikram lander. The ISRO twitter post said, “#VikramLander has been located by the orbiter of #Chandrayaan2, but no communication with it yet. All possible efforts are being made to establish communication with lander.”
ISRO officials in the know also confirmed that the lander was intact but the landing pattern was different due to higher velocity during landing and re-establishing contact with the lander could be difficult. Lunar lander Vikram, one of three components of the Chandrayaan-2 spacecraft, had been scheduled to soft land on the moon at 1.55 am on Saturday but stopped transmitting 2.1 km from the surface. (UNI)
