Chandrayaan 2 lunar lander Vikram has finally been located on the moon’s surface. The ground station is working to establish contact. This good news that was shared by ISRO chief K Sivan sent a wave of joy across the nation. ISRO lost contact with Vikram on Saturday morning while the lander was attempting a historic soft landing near the south pole of the moon.
Speaking to ANI agency, K Sivan said, “We’ve found the location of lander Vikram on lunar surface and orbiter has clicked a thermal image of the lander. But there is no communication yet. We are trying to have contact. It will be communicated soon.”
Check out the tweet shared by ANI,
Chandrayaan 2, was launched on July 22 from Sriharikota in Andhra Pradesh, on the back of a GSLV Mark III rocket The rocket soon began a 3.84-lakh kilometre journey to the moon, taking a circuitous route that included five earth-bound orbit-raising manoeuvres.
On August 20 the spacecraft was successfully inserted into lunar orbit and, at 1.15 pm on Monday, Vikram successfully separated from the orbiter at 1.15 pm, entering a descending orbit around the moon. But soon jubilation turned to despair as space agency ISRO lost contact with the lander minutes before it was to land on the Moon.
India had expected to make space history with the successful soft landing on the moon’s surface. It would have made the country only the fourth – after the United States, Russia and China – to achieve the feat. It would also have made India the first country to complete a soft landing near the South Pole on its first attempt.
But with the Orbiter finding the lander hope has raised its head once again and ISRO is trying their best to contact it.
Also Read: Chandrayaan-2 setback, India loses contact with Vikram lander