American space agency NASA is trying to get Chandrayaan 2 lander Vikram to communicate with home. Chandrayaan 2 is the biggest space mission conducted by Indian Space Agency ISRO (Indian Space and Research Organization) so far. ISRO has successfully placed the Chandrayaan 2 orbiter in the lunar orbit and attempted the soft landing of Vikram lander which was carrying a rover called Pragyan.
Vikram the lander of ISRO’s Chandrayaan 2 was supposed to perform the soft landing near the South Pole of the moon but unfortunately, right before the landing, Indian space agency ISRO has lost the communication with the Vikram Lander. ISRO mission control lost communication with the lander Vikram when it was at a distance of 2.1 km from the moon’s surface. Currently, ISRO is analysing the communication data to find out exactly what went wrong during the final descent phase of Vikram lander.
The moon orbiter of Chandrayaan 2 has found the location where Vikram lander crashed and also took the thermal images, the same data are being analysed by the ISRO. An ISRO official associated with the mission said “It had a hard-landing very close to the planned (touch-down) site as per the images sent by the on-board camera of the orbiter. The lander is there as a single piece, not broken into pieces. It’s in a tilted position, we are making all-out efforts to see whether communication can be re-established with the lander.”
ISRO is still trying to establish communication with the Vikram Lander since the mission life of Vikram lander is one Lunar day, which is equal to 14 earth days, ISRO officials also hinted that the chances to communicate with the lander are less but it seems ISRO still trying everything possible to reach out the lander. Now, NASA is also helping ISRO to reach out the lander; American space agency National Aeronautics and Space Administration’s (NASA) Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) is sending radio signals to Vikram.
NASA’s Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter, a spacecraft currently orbiting the moon, will be flying over the Vikram’s landing site on 17 September, and it might help ISRO with images of the area to help with its analysis. A NASA spokesperson confirmed to NY Times over email. The New York Times reported quoting a Nasa spokesperson that the space agency will share “any before and after flyover imagery” of the area for ISRO’s analysis.
