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Published 14:43 IST, September 8th 2019

Chandrayaan 2 | 'Vikram must have done a hard-landing': ISRO to PTI

Soon after news agency ANI quoted ISRO saying that exact location of the Vikram Lander of Chandrayaan 2 has been spotted, ISRO chief told PTI about hard-landing

Reported by: Navashree Nandini
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Soon after news agency ANI quoted ISRO saying that exact location of the Vikram Lander of Chandrayaan 2 has been spotted, ISRO chief K Sivan has told PTI that the Vikram's landing must have been a hard-landing. On September 7, India's first moon mission Chandrayaan 2 was scheduled to make a soft-landing on moon's south pole with its Vikram lander and Pragyan rover. However, just minutes before the touchdown, communication with the lander was lost even as the Vikram lander was only 2.1 kilometres away from the lunar surface. Following the unfortunate loss of communication with the lander, ISRO chief said that attempts will be made to re-establish the communication with the Lander in the next 14 days. 

On Sunday, September 8, Sivan told PTI that though Vikram's landing on the Moon's surface must have been a hard-landing, there is still no clarity if the Vikram's module was damaged during the landing. "We do not know if the Vikram module was damaged during the hard-landing on the Lunar surface. Efforts to establish contact with the Vikram module continues," ISRO chief said PTI. 

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ISRO clicks thermal image of Vikram lander

ISRO Chairman Sunday has also said to ANI that they have spotted the location of Vikram Lander on the Lunar surface. Sivan also said that Chandrayaan 2's orbiter has clicked a thermal image of Vikram Lander. While ISRO has not yet established any communication with the Lander, they are still trying to do the same, according to ANI. Sivan has assured that communication with Vikram will be established soon, according to ANI.

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Finding Vikram efforts

Earlier on Saturday, ISRO chief K Sivan had confirmed that attempts are still being made to establish contact with the Vikram lander. Communication with the Lander was lost on early Saturday morning while it was just 2.1 km away from the lunar surface, attempting to soft-land on the moon. Sivan further informed that the attempts would be made to establish a link for the next 14 days - a lunar day. He added that a parallel search will be conducted by the orbiter.

Chandrayaan 2: 'Orbiter data will help global community': ISRO chief

Speaking to Doordarshan in his first interview after contact was lost with the lander, K Sivan said, "The science we are going to do won't be just for one year, it'll be for all seven years. Yes, right now the communication is lost but we will try to establish a link, that effort will be going on. We will try for the next 14 days. If at all we are succeeding, we will be able to operate and will get the required data. We will also parallelly search with the orbiter." 

What happened during Vikram's soft-landing?

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

'Vikram Lander spotted on Lunar surface by Orbiter': ISRO to ANI

14:16 IST, September 8th 2019