Bengaluru, Sep 7 (UNI) Indian Space Research Organisation’s ambitious Chandrayaan-2 Moon landing Mission which carried a lander and rover to be placed on the Moon surface received a setback as mission control ground station at ISTRAC in the city lost control of the lander ‘Vikram’ during the last few seconds of its scheduled landing on the southern polar region of the Moon. The landing of the rover was most eagerly awaited with Prime Minister Narendra Modi arriving at the ISRO Telemetry Tracking and Command Network (ISTRAC) located in the city and everything went well till the last few seconds.
Vikram descended as programmed for 13 minutes but with a few seconds with just 2.1 km left for its touch down. Subseqently the communication from the lander to the ground station MOX was lost. We are analysing the data, ISRO Chairman K Sivan said in his initial reaction. “VikramLander descended as planned up to an altitude of 2.1 km and normal performance was observed during Chandrayan2. Subsequently the communication from the lander to the ground station #MOX was lot. The data is being analysed,” he said.
A visibly disappointed Prime Minister told the scientists that, ”What you have achieved today is no small achievement; the country is proud of you. We can learn a lot from this; we will continue our journey and I am with you. Have courage in your work”. An ISRO spokesperson said the scientists were analysing the date and Dr Sivan will be making a statement.
