ISRO chief says 'Gaganyaan next priority, unable to contact Vikram'

While ISRO's Vikram Lander lies 'hard-landed' on lunar surface, ISRO chief K Sivan, on Saturday, has updated nation about  status of Chandrayaan 2 Orbiter which is currently orbiting moon, speaking to reporters. He said that eight instruments in orbiter are functioning well. Sly, he also informed that ISRO's efforts to communicate with Vikram Lander have t been fruitful, as window to establish communication diminishes. Looking forward, he said Indian ncy is focusing to Gaganyaan.

Next priority Gaganyaan, unable to contact Vikram

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NASA snaps photos of Vikram's landing site

Earlier on September 17, NASA's Moon Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter captured ims of lunar region where Vikram h crash-landed. craft has snapped a series of ims during its flyby of Vikram's attempted landing sight near Moon's uncharted south pole. It flew over area of Vikram landing site when local lunar time was near dusk. As large shows covered much of area, lander may t be in camera field of view said LRO Mission deputy project scientist John Keller to PTI. probability of establishing contact with lander has a deline of September 21 because after that Moon region will enter into a lunar night. NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) is sending rio signals to Vikram Lander and monitoring India's Lunar orbiter too.

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What happened during Vikram's soft-landing?

Earlier on Saturday morning at 1:50 AM when Vikram was scheduled to land, ISRO's Deep Antenna lost communication with Chandrayaan-2's lander- Vikram as it descended towards lunar surface. lander h descended from 30 km to 2km smoothly. During final smooth braking st, it h lost communication with Mission Control. Vikram was aimed at soft-landing on moon, making India fourth country to do so. 

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What is Gaganyaan?

Gaganyaan is ISRO's first crewed mission with a deline of 2021, set by PM Modi during his Independence Day speech on August 15. ISRO aims to send a 3-member crew to orbit and safely return to Earth after a mission duration of up to seven days by 2021. With Gaganyaan India can be fourth country to send a manned mission to after Russia (n USSR), US and China. Prior to sending a crew into , ISRO plans to send two unmanned missions into orbit - first one in 2020 and second one in 2021. entire mission is estimated to approximately cost about Rs.10,000 crore. Gaganyaan was first conceptualised in 2004.

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