AFP :
India lost contact with its unmanned spacecraft just before it was due to land on the Moon on Saturday, in a blow to the country’s ambitious low-cost lunar programme. India had hoped to become just the fourth country after the United States, Russia and China to successfully land on the Moon.
This is just so heartbreaking. Kailasavadivoo Sivan, the #ISRO Chief breaks down while meeting the Prime Minister during his departure today. India is proud of you all, Sivan Sir! #Chandrayaan is a success story. It has done the unthinkable. #Respect
But as Prime Minister Narendra Modi looked on, the mood in mission control in the southern city of Bangalore soon deteriorated when it became clear that everything was not going according to plan.
After several tense minutes as the expected landing time came and went, Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) chairman Kailasavadivoo Sivan announced that communication with the lander had been lost.
“The ‘Vikram’ lander descent was (going) as planned and normal performance was observed,” until the craft had descended to 2.1 kilometres (1.3 miles) above the South Pole region, Sivan said.
“Subsequently the communication from the lander to the ground station was lost. The data is being analysed,” he said, surrounded by grim-faced engineers and technicians in the control room.
Modi told them after Sivan’s announcement that “what you have done (already) is not a small achievement”. The prime minister was due to address the nation at 0230 GMT.
India had hoped to become just the fourth country after the United States, Russia and China to successfully land on the Moon.
Chandrayaan-2 – or Moon Chariot 2 – took off on July 22 carrying an orbiter, lander and rover almost entirely designed and made in India, a week after an initial launch was halted just before blast-off. ISRO had acknowledged before the soft landing that it was a complex manoeuvre, which Sivan called “15 minutes of terror”.
The lander – named after Vikram A. Sarabhai, the father of India’s space programme – aimed to be the first to reach the lunar South Pole region. It was carrying rover Pragyan, wisdom in the Sanskrit language, which was due to emerge several hours after touchdown.
The rover was expected to explore craters for clues on the origin and evolution of the Moon, and also for evidence on how much water the polar region contains. The 2.4-tonne (5,300-pound) orbiter remains in operation and will circle the Moon for about a year, taking images of the surface, looking for signs of water, and studying the atmosphere.
According to Mathieu Weiss, a representative in India for France’s space agency CNES, analysing the South Pole is vital to determining whether humans could one day spend extended periods on the Moon. Scientists believe that large amounts of water are in the area, making human settlement there more viable.
India lost contact with its unmanned spacecraft just before it was due to land on the Moon on Saturday, in a blow to the country’s ambitious low-cost lunar programme.
If people can survive on the Moon, then this means it could be used as a pitstop on the way to Mars, the next objective of governments and private interests such as Elon Musk’s Space X.
India lost contact with its unmanned spacecraft just before it was due to land on the Moon on Saturday, in a blow to the country’s ambitious low-cost lunar programme. India had hoped to become just the fourth country after the United States, Russia and China to successfully land on the Moon.
This is just so heartbreaking. Kailasavadivoo Sivan, the #ISRO Chief breaks down while meeting the Prime Minister during his departure today. India is proud of you all, Sivan Sir! #Chandrayaan is a success story. It has done the unthinkable. #Respect
But as Prime Minister Narendra Modi looked on, the mood in mission control in the southern city of Bangalore soon deteriorated when it became clear that everything was not going according to plan.
After several tense minutes as the expected landing time came and went, Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) chairman Kailasavadivoo Sivan announced that communication with the lander had been lost.
“The ‘Vikram’ lander descent was (going) as planned and normal performance was observed,” until the craft had descended to 2.1 kilometres (1.3 miles) above the South Pole region, Sivan said.
“Subsequently the communication from the lander to the ground station was lost. The data is being analysed,” he said, surrounded by grim-faced engineers and technicians in the control room.
Modi told them after Sivan’s announcement that “what you have done (already) is not a small achievement”. The prime minister was due to address the nation at 0230 GMT.
India had hoped to become just the fourth country after the United States, Russia and China to successfully land on the Moon.
Chandrayaan-2 – or Moon Chariot 2 – took off on July 22 carrying an orbiter, lander and rover almost entirely designed and made in India, a week after an initial launch was halted just before blast-off. ISRO had acknowledged before the soft landing that it was a complex manoeuvre, which Sivan called “15 minutes of terror”.
The lander – named after Vikram A. Sarabhai, the father of India’s space programme – aimed to be the first to reach the lunar South Pole region. It was carrying rover Pragyan, wisdom in the Sanskrit language, which was due to emerge several hours after touchdown.
The rover was expected to explore craters for clues on the origin and evolution of the Moon, and also for evidence on how much water the polar region contains. The 2.4-tonne (5,300-pound) orbiter remains in operation and will circle the Moon for about a year, taking images of the surface, looking for signs of water, and studying the atmosphere.
According to Mathieu Weiss, a representative in India for France’s space agency CNES, analysing the South Pole is vital to determining whether humans could one day spend extended periods on the Moon. Scientists believe that large amounts of water are in the area, making human settlement there more viable.
India lost contact with its unmanned spacecraft just before it was due to land on the Moon on Saturday, in a blow to the country’s ambitious low-cost lunar programme.
If people can survive on the Moon, then this means it could be used as a pitstop on the way to Mars, the next objective of governments and private interests such as Elon Musk’s Space X.
