Isro locates Vikram Lander’s position, trying to establish contact

Isro chairman K Sivan also confirmed that the location of Vikram Lander on the lunar surface has been found.

“We've found the location of Vikram Lander on the lunar surface and the Orbiter has clicked an optical image of the Lander,” Sivan said

“But there is no communication yet. We are trying to have contact. It will be communicated soon,” he added.

Isro lost communication with the Vikram Lander on 7 September as it followed the planned descent trajectory from its orbit of 35 km to just below 2 km above the Moon’s surface.

All the systems and sensors of the Lander functioned excellently until this point and proved many new technologies such as variable thrust propulsion technology used in the Lander. 

The success criteria was defined for each and every phase of the mission and till date 90 to 95 per cent of the mission objectives have been accomplished and will continue contribute to Lunar science , notwithstanding the loss of communication with the Lander, Isro stated in a website release.

The success criteria were defined for every phase of the mission and till date 90 to 95 per cent of the mission objectives have been accomplished and will continue contributing to Lunar science, notwithstanding the loss of communication with the Lander.

Despite the setback, Chandrayaan-2 mission was a highly complex mission, which represented a significant technological leap compared to the previous missions of Isro, which brought together an Orbiter, Lander and Rover to explore the unexplored south pole of the Moon. Since the launch of Chandrayaan-2 on 22 July 2019, not only India but the whole world watched its progress from one phase to the next with great expectations and excitement. This was a unique mission which aimed at studying not just one area of the Moon but all the areas combining the exosphere, the surface as well as the sub-surface of the moon in a single mission. 

The Orbiter has already been placed in its intended orbit around the Moon and shall enrich our understanding of the moon’s evolution and mapping of the minerals and water molecules in the Polar Regions, using its eight state-of-the-art scientific instruments. 

The Orbiter camera is the highest resolution camera (0.3m) in any lunar mission so far and shall provide high resolution images which will be immensely useful to the global scientific community. The precise launch and mission management has ensured a long life of almost 7 years instead of the planned one year. 

The Vikram Lander, instead of making a soft landing, made a hard-landing, which could have damager the equipment. Isro is to be analysing the data. 

It may not have landed at a desired level of velocity or it may not have landed on its four legs. Either way the shock may have caused damage to the lander.

Sivan had said on Saturday that the space agency would try to establish link with the Lander for 14 days, which is its lifespan.