Chandrayaan-2 Moon Landing Highlights:
India’s dream of landing a spacecraft on moon lay shattered as the Vikram lander of the Chandrayaan-2 failed to make a smooth soft-landing, unable to bring down its speed to the required level.
To decelerate after starting its descent, Vikram continuously fired its four thrusters in the direction of its movement. It travelled a total of almost 585 km in a parabolic path before losing contact. Before the touchdown, a few hundred kilometres from the ground, it was expected to hover over the surface, trying to ascertain whether there was a safe place to land.
Chandrayaan-2 was India’s first attempt at landing a spacecraft on the moon. Only three countries — the United States, the erstwhile USSR and China — have managed to place a spacecraft on Moon so far.
Chandrayaan-2, riding the powerful GSLV Mk-III rocket, was successfully launched at 2.43 pm on July 22 from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre at Sriharikota. It was a textbook launch and initial anxiety evaporated 16 minutes 23 seconds later when scientists at mission control broke into applause, signalling that Chandrayaan-2 was now on its own.
ISRO Chairman K Sivan had repeatedly been describing Friday's Moon landing as "the most terrifying 15 minutes” of its journey. If successful, this would have been India’s first soft landing on the moon’s surface. Only the US, the former USSR and China have been successful in landing humans or machines on the moon.
India's mission to look for water on the Moon stemmed from the discover of Chandrayaan-1, which found its presence in 2008.
"PM is a source of inspiration&support for us. His speech gave us motivation. In his speech,the special phrase that I noted was, "Science should not be looked for results, but for experiments and experiments will lead to results," ISRO chief K Sivan told Doordarshan.
The Chandrayaan-2 mission will "absolutely have no impact" on ISRO's ambitious manned mission Gaganyaan, scheduled to be launched in 2022, according to an ISRO official. P G Diwakar, who was earlier scientific secretary at the space agency and is now the Director of Earth Observations Applications and Disaster Management Programme Office at the ISRO headquarters in Bengaluru, said both Chandrayaan and Gaganyaan have different objectives and dimensions. "There will be absolutely no problem at all. It will have no impact. The satellite missions as well as the human space flight mission will go very smoothly without any problem. Each mission is of a different type," he told PTI.
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"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 said in its latest update.
Only the United States, Russia and China have landed on the moon. Beijing's Chang'e-4 probe touched down on the far side this year, while Israel made an unsuccessful attempt to land its Beresheet spacecraft on the moon in April. The south pole is believed to contain water as craters in the region are largely unaffected by the high temperatures of the sun. ISRO had hoped to confirm the presence of water in the form of ice, first detected on its mission in 2008.
Exuding confidence in Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) scientists, Prime Minister Narendra Modi Saturday said they would remain firm in achieving the nation’s dream of reaching the moon and not rest until the objective is met. “The dream of reaching the moon will be accomplished by ISRO and those working with it won’t stop, get tired or sit down,” Modi said while speaking at an event in Mumbai later in the day. He added that the ISRO scientists have a very strong spirit of working and would not rest until the objective is met.
The BBC wrote that the mission had made global headlines because it was "so cheap". "The budget for Avengers: Endgame, for instance, was more than double at an estimated $ 356 million. But this isn't the first time ISRO has been hailed for its thrift. Its 2014 Mars mission cost $ 74 million, a tenth of the budget for the American Maven orbiter," it said.
In the most optimistic case, it could only be a problem of communication failure. It is possible that Vikram landed on the moon as planned, but midway through its journey stopped communicating with the ground station. The chances of this having happened are extremely slim, considering that the graph on the screens of the control room depicting the expected and actual deceleration did begin to diverge after 13 minutes from the descent. So the speed was noticed to be larger than required even before communication was lost. READ MORE
The lessons learned from India's “bold attempt” to soft land Chandrayaan-2's Vikram module on the lunar surface will help the country during its future missions, former NASA astronaut Jerry Linenger said on Saturday. Indian Space Research Organisation's (ISRO) plan to soft land Vikram near the Moon's south pole did not go as per script in the early hours of Saturday, with the lander losing communication with ground stations during its final descent. Linengar, who flew on Russian space station Mir that operated in low Earth orbit from 1986 to 2001 for five months, took take part in the live telecast of Chandrayaan-2 landing attempt on the National Geographic Channel.
"We should not be too discouraged. India was trying to do something very, very difficult. In fact, everything was going as planned as the lander came down," Linenger told PTI in an email interview.
West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Saturday said the ISRO scientists worked hard for Chandrayaan-2 mission and the nation is with them. "We are proud of our scientists. The @isro team worked hard for #Chandrayaan2. A befitting tribute to our founding fathers who envisioned India's place in the league of scientifically advanced nations far ahead of their times," she tweeted. She congratulated the ISRO scientists and said the nation is with them. "A testimony to the scientific temper they ingrained in us, and their unmatched caliber and dedication. My sincere gratitude and congratulations to @isro. We are all with you. May you continue to make us proud," she added.
Mauritius Prime Minister Pravind Jugnaut said, "I wish to congratulate the government of India and the ISRO team for their attempt at landing the Vikram lander and the Pragyaan rover on the lunar South Pole. Although it was not a successful landing this time, the world would recon the major technological advancement of the Indian Special Programme. We look forward to collaborative efforts between Mauritius and the ISRO team in the future."
Maldives President Ibrahim Mohamed Solih said that India has made history. "With Chandraayan 2, India has made history. Whatever the final outcome, landing a probe on the moon is no mean feat. I applaud and commend the efforts of PM @narendramodi and ISRO for their hard work to further the cause of human scientific progress," he tweeted.
Former Sri Lankan president Mahinda Rajapaksa tweeted, "Congratulations to @isro, PM @narendramodi and the people of #India on #Chandrayaan2. This mission was not a failure but a successful step towards reaching the ultimate goal. This is an incredibly proud moment for all of South Asia. We are certain you will soon succeed."
Goa Chief Minister Pramod Sawant on Saturday said the entire nation stood behind scientists of the ISRO, hours after the agency announced that it had lost communication with the 'Chandrayaan-2' lander. "#Chandryaan2 may have faced some challenges, but the entire nation is proud of our team of scientists at @isro who are among few special ones in the world possess the expertise and capabilities to undertake space missions of such great magnitude," the chief minister tweeted. "The orbiter continues on its journey to explore moon and take the mission ahead," he added.
Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan on Saturday lavished praises on the scientists of ISRO, who toiled hard for the historic moon mission, Chandrayaan-2 and expressed confidence that they will overcome the present hurdles. In a Facebook post, Vijayan said the dedication of the ISRO scientists was "commendable". "They can overcome the present hurdles... Best wishes to them to move forward with confidence and reach further heights," the CM added.
The success ratio of lunar missions undertaken in the last six decades is 60 per cent, according to US space agency NASA's 'Moon Fact Sheet'. Of the 109 lunar missions during the period, 61 were successful and 48 had failed, it stated. From 1958 to 2019, India as well as the US, the USSR (now Russia), Japan, the European Union, China and Israel launched different lunar missions -- from orbiters, landers and flyby (orbiting the Moon, landing on the Moon and flying by the Moon). The first mission to the Moon was planned by the US in August 17, 1958, but the launch of Pioneer 0 was unsuccessful.
"Hum honge kamayab, mann me hai vishwas, poora hai vishwas hum honge kamyaab ek din," this is how President Ram Nath Kovind summed up his thoughts on the Chandrayan-2 mission on Saturday. The president hoped that India would be successful in its moon mission the next time. He said he himself had seen the massive carrier, "bahubali", in Sriharikota when he visited the assembly point. "We covered 3.84 lakh-km journey successfully, only 2.1 km were left. The distance left is negligible on such a huge scale. It's such a huge achievement," he said. It was just a coincidence and not misfortune.
Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar on Saturday praised the scientists of ISRO for Chandrayaan-2 mission and said the entire nation is proud of their efforts. "... We are proud of their (scientists) efforts for significant achievement. The entire nation appreciates the efforts of scientists at ISRO and stands with you," Kumar said in an official release. "We are quite confident that our scientists will keep their energy and enthusiasm and will move ahead to achieve our goal. Information gathered from Chandrayaan-2 mission will help future scientific endeavors," he said.
While the significance of the Chandrayaan-2 cannot be understated, it’s important to recall at this juncture the contribution made by Chandrayaan-1 to India’s space mission. Launched 11 years ago on October 22, 2008, Chandrayaan-1 was India’s first Lunar mission that took off from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre SHAR, Sriharikota in Andhra Pradesh. It made more than 3,400 orbits around the moon and was operational for at least 312 days until August 29, 2009. As per ISRO, the Chandrayaan-1 lift-off mass was around 1,380 kg. Read More
The mission of Chandrayaan-2 might have failed to accomplish successfully but it has earned the respect of the people. Celebrities including Amitabh Bachchan, Kamal Haasan, Taapsee Pannu, Karan Johar among many others shared encouraging notes on Twitter as they applauded ISRO’s (Indian Space Research Organisation) efforts. Read More
"If you start listing, there are at least ten points where it could have gone wrong. What has really gone wrong is difficult to predict now", he said. "Only thing is in the last ten seconds (of the mission), there was a deviation in the trajectory and velocity path. Looking at the data available till that point I am sure ISRO will be able to identify (where things went wrong)," he added.
Nair also said that the lander's contact-loss was highly disappointing, and he never expected such a scenario. "It's disappointing for all of us. The entire country was looking forward to it." He said the entire mission -- from the launch till the lander lost its communication with ground-stations at an altitude of to 2.1 km from the Moon's surface -- went like text-book precision. "When you look at operation 2.1 km down below, it's really complex; half of us were keeping our fingers crossed because there are several instruments and thrusters will have to work very precisely; only then the final objective can be achieved," the former ISRO Chief said.
"I think we need not worry too much...I will rate more than 95 per cent of the mission objectives have been achieved," Nair told PTI after lander 'Vikram' lost contact with ground-stations during final descent to the Lunar surface in the early hours of Saturday. "Already, orbiter is in space and it should do an excellent job of mapping", he added.
Former ISRO Chairman G Madhavan Nair said on Saturday the Chandrayaan-2 has achieved 95 per cent of its mission objectives, the lander's unsuccessful bid to touch-down on the Lunar surface notwithstanding. The former Secretary in the Department of Space and ex-Space Commission Chairman noted that the orbiter is healthy and functioning normally in the Lunar orbit, and that Chandrayaan-2 had multiple objectives, including soft-landing.
Even though Vikram lander of the Chandrayaan-2 failed to make a smooth soft-landing, unable to bring down its speed to the required level, one cannot help but remember former President APJ Abdul Kalam’s words on how to face failures while he was speaking about an incident that happened in 1979 during SLV-3 satellite launch that was a failure. Abdul Kalam was then the project director of India’s first Satellite Launch Vehicle (SLV-III) and Professor Satish Dhawan was the chairman of ISRO. Read More
Though the expected soft-landing of the Vikram Lander was not accomplished, the Chandrayaan-2 mission is far from over. In fact, in science terms, very little has been lost. But in terms of optics, it is definitely a huge setback for ISRO. Amitabh Sinha explains why it hardly matters that Vikram is lost.
Congress president Sonia Gandhi Saturday applauded the team of space scientists and researchers at the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) for their “incredible and praiseworthy efforts” on the Chandrayaan-2 mission. “We owe a great debt to ISRO and the brilliant men and women who staff it. Their hard work and dedication has earned India a place in the league of space-faring nations and have inspired generations to reach for the stars,” she said.
An astronaut narrator and space analyst, Linenger said overall the mission has been “very successful.” “In fact, the orbiter will continue to downlink very valuable information for the next year. And by all indications, all systems are good on the orbiter,” he said. Leninger also congratulated ISRO for attempting the “difficult” lunar landing. “I look forward to watching complete success in the future based upon lessons learned from this bold attempt,” Linenger added.
The lessons learned from India's “bold attempt” to soft land Chandrayaan-2's Vikram module on the lunar surface will help the country during its future missions, former NASA astronaut Jerry Linenger said on Saturday. Linengar, who flew on Russian space station Mir that operated in low Earth orbit from 1986 to 2001 for five months, took take part in the live telecast of Chandrayaan-2 landing attempt on the National Geographic Channel. "We should not be too discouraged. India was trying to do something very, very difficult. In fact, everything was going as planned as the lander came down," Linenger told PTI in an email interview. Linenger noted that the lander "unfortunately" never quite made it to the hover point – which is an altitude of about 400 metres above the lunar surface. "...if it had made it to that point, and even if it had not succeeded beyond that, it would have been helpful because the radar altimeters and lasers could have been tested. But if you step back and look at the big picture, this (attempt) would obviously be very helpful for follow on missions," he said.
As India’s dream of landing a spacecraft on the moon faded as Chandrayaan-2’s Vikram Lander lost contact with ISRO, the space agency Saturday said that the Orbiter component of the spacecraft is healthy and safe in lunar orbit. “Only 5 per cent of the mission has been lost – Vikram the lander and Pragyan the rover – while the remaining 95 per cent – that is the Chandrayaan 2 orbiter – is orbiting the moon successfully,” an official of the Indian Space Research Organisation or ISRO told news agency IANS. Read More
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday consoled an emotional ISRO chief K Sivan outside the agency’s headquarters in Bengaluru hours after Chandrayaan-2’s Vikram lander lost contact with ground stations and failed to make a soft landing on the lunar surface. In a video that has gone viral, the Modi is seen hugging Sivan as the latter broke down and patted him on his back. Read More
With the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) losing communications with Chandrayaan-2’s moon lander ‘Vikram’, India’s ambitious project to search for water on the moon suffers a setback. Here is how political leaders reacted.
As India’s dream of landing a spacecraft on the moon faded as Chandrayaan-2’s Vikram Lander lost contact with ISRO, the space agency Saturday said that the Orbiter component of the spacecraft is healthy and safe in lunar orbit. The Vikram Lander, carrying the Pragyaan Rover, had separated from the orbiter on September 3. Read More
The Vikram Lander of Chandrayaan-2, India’s second lunar mission, failed to make a smooth soft-landing in the early hours on Saturday. In case you were asleep and missed what happened as Vikram lost contact with the missions operations complex at the ISRO headquarters in Bengaluru, here is a blow-by-blow account of what took place. Read Full story here
Uttar Pradesh Minister and BJP leader Mohsin Raza gets emotional while talking about Chandrayaan-2.
ISRO may have lost Chandrayaan-2's Vikram lander and rover Pragyan housed inside it, a senior official of the space agency associated with the unmanned moon mission said here Saturday. "Vikram lander descent was as planned and normal performance was observed up to an altitude of 2.1 km. Subsequently, the communications from the lander to ground stations was lost," ISRO chief K Sivan said. "The data is being analysed," he added. It's as good as lost. There is no hope. Very, very difficult to re-establish contact".
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday asked ISRO scientists not to get disheartened by the hurdles in the moon mission Chandrayaan-2 and asserted that there will be a "new dawn". ISRO's plan to soft land Chandrayaan-2's Vikram module on the Lunar surface did not go as per script in the early hours of Saturday, with the lander losing communication with ground stations during its final descent. Addressing the scientists hours after ISRO announced that it had lost communication with the lander, he also said that the country's determination to land on the moon has become even stronger.
Addressing scientists at the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) headquarters in Bengaluru after communication with Chandrayaan-2’s Vikram Lander was lost, Prime Minister Narendra Modi Saturday said the “nation stands with you”. In a bid to boost the morale of ISRO scientists, Modi said, “I have lived the moment with you when communication with spacecraft was lost. Our courage has become stronger. Our determination to touch moon has become even stronger. We came very close, but we need to cover more ground.” Read More
Bhutan PM Lotay Tshering on Chadrayaan-2: We are proud of India and its scientists today. Chandrayaan-2 saw some challenges last minute but courage and hard work you have shown are historical. Knowing Prime Minister Narendra Modi, I have no doubt he and his ISRO team will make it happen one day."
PM Narendra Modi hugged and consoled ISRO Chief K Sivan.
PM Modi also says, "I can understand the sadness in your face. I have lived the moment with you when communication with spacecraft was lost; our courage has become stronger. Our determination to touch moon has become even stronger, we came very close but we need to cover more grounds. Countless people have got access to a better life due to the hard work of our space scientists. The best is yet to come in our space programme; India is with you."
PM Modi told ISRO Scientists, "You came as close as you could. I also salute the families of our space scientists. I can proudly say that the efforts were worth it and so was the journey. Our team tried hard and travelled far and we will look back at the journey with great satisfaction, the learning from today will make us stronger and better. There will be a new dawn and brighter tomorrow very soon."
PM Modi says, "We will rise to the occasion and scale newer heights of success. To our scientists I want to say- India is with you! You are exceptional professionals who have made an incredible contribution to national progress. Resilience & tenacity are central to India’s ethos. In our glorious history, we have faced moments that may have slowed us but they have never crushed our spirit. We have bounced back again & gone on to do spectacular things. This is why our civilisation stands tall."
PM Modi said, "Proud of our scientists, their hard work and determination had ensured a better life for citizens. It is the outcome of their innovative zeal. Many more opportunities to be proud of and rejoice, thanks. At the same time, we are full of confidence that when it comes to the space programme, the best is yet to come."
Prime Minister Narendra Modi has arrived at ISRO, Bengaluru. He is interacting with the ISRO scientists. Stay tuned to our LIVE UPDATES!
Imagine a spacecraft hurtling through space, at 10 times the speed of an airplane, having to nearly come to a standstill in order to land gently on the Earth — all in a matter of a few minutes and, more importantly, without any human intervention. This, in a nutshell, is a soft landing. Read More
Prime Minister Narendra Modi lat night interacted with the students from across the country, who were selected through ISRO's 'Space Quiz' competition to watch the landing of Vikram Lander along with the PM. When one of the students asked PM Modi, ''My aim is to become the President of India. What steps should I follow?'', PM Modi replied: "Why President? Why not Prime Minister?"
The Chandrayaan-2 orbiter is healthy and safe in the Lunar orbit, an ISRO official said after the Vikram lander lost contact with ground stations minutes before the touchdown on Moon's surface early on Saturday. "The orbiter is healthy, intact, functioning normally and safely in the Lunar orbit," the official told PTI. The mission life of the 2,379-kg orbiter is one year. The orbiter payloads will conduct remote-sensing observations from a 100 km orbit.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi tweeted: "At 8 AM this morning, I would be interacting with our hardworking space scientists at the ISRO Centre in Bengaluru."
"Journey of Chandrayaan-2 so far and what lies ahead is no less than an achievement. We are proud of our scientists and confident that India’s space programme only gets stronger and better from here," Union Minister Smriti Irani tweeted.
Union Minister for Science and Technology Harsh Vardhan urged the scientists not to give up and that success was failure turned inside out. "The silver tint of the clouds of doubt You never can tell how close you are It may be near when it seems so far. You have done your best for Chandrayaan-2!" he tweeted.
Morale boosting messages poured in from various quarters for ISRO as several leaders asked the space agency not to get disheartened after Chandrayaan-2's Vikram lander lost contact with ground stations minutes before its planned touchdown on the lunar surface.
Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman too extended her support to the ISRO scientists: "We are with you ISRO. You have brought the nation, its young minds and all, together in sensing your achievements in Space. You will succeed."
Mahindra Group chairman Anand Mahindra said, "The communication isn’t lost. Every single person in India can feel the heartbeat of Chandrayaan2 We can hear it whisper to us that if at first, you don’t succeed, try, try again".
Even though the Vikram lander of the Chandrayaan-2 failed to make a smooth soft-landing, ISRO has successfully placed the spacecraft into the Moon orbit. The Orbiter will continue to orbit the Moon for a year, all while scanning and mapping the surface. India’s Chandrayaan-1 was an Orbiter, so were 46 other moon missions from various countries. Orbiter missions are the most common way to study a planetary body. The main spacecraft is orbiting the Moon in a near-circular orbit of about 100 km.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi will address the nation from ISRO Control Centre in Bengaluru at 8 am.
President Ram Nath Kovind said, "With Chandrayaan 2 mission, the entire team of ISRO has shown exemplary commitment and courage. The country is proud of ISRO. We all hope for the best."
Congress leader and former party chief Rahul Gandhi said the work of the ISRO scientists was not in vain. "Congratulations to the team at #ISRO for their incredible work on the Chandrayaan 2 Moon Mission. Your passion & dedication is an inspiration to every Indian. Your work is not in vain. It has laid the foundation for many more path-breaking & ambitious Indian space missions," Gandhi tweeted.
Deviprasad Karnik, a scientist at ISRO, refused to confirm if Vikram lander had crashed. "Data is being analysed. We don't have any result yet. It takes time. We are not sure," Karnik told the media.
Home Minister Amit Shah said ISRO’s achievement with getting Chandrayaan-2 so far had made every Indian proud. "ISRO’s achievement with getting Chandrayaan-2 so far has made every Indian proud. India stands with our committed and hard-working scientists at ISRO. My best wishes for future endeavours," Amit Shah said.