Breaking: Vikram lander is safe, attempts being made to re-establish connection: ISRO
ISRO has said that the Vikram lander is safe and has not broken into pieces after landing on the moon.
ISRO has confirmed that the Vikram lander is safe after communication was lost with the lander on Friday night, minutes before landing on the moon.
Vikram lander was 2.1 km from it's landing spot when the connection was lost. ISRO chief K Sivan in an official statement said: The lander's trajectory was normal up till 2.1 km after which the connection was lost.
ISRO has confirmed that attempts are being made to re-establish communication with the lander while also stating that the lander is in a tilted position.
ISRO had was congratulated by scientists and space agencies from around the world after a heroic first attempt at landing on the moon.
"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," an ISRO official associated with the mission claimed on Monday.
"We are making all-out efforts to see whether communication can be re-established with the lander," the official said.
"An ISRO team is the on the job at ISROTelemetry, Tracking and Command Network (ISTRAC) here." Chandrayaan-2 comprises an orbiter, lander (Vikram) and rover (Pragyan).
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The mission life of the lander and rover is one Lunar day, which is equal to 14 earth days.
ISRO Chairman K Sivan had said on Saturday that the space agency would try to restore the link with the lander for 14 days and reiterated the resolve on Sunday after the orbiter's camera spotted it on the Lunar surface.
An ISRO official said: "Unless and until everything is intact (lander), it's very difficult (to re-establish contact). Chances are less. Only if it had soft-landing, and if all systems functioned, then only communication can be restored. Things are bleak as of now."
"I will rate it (restoring link) as good," another senior official of the space agency said, raising hope that lander springing to life again is not ruled out.
"But there are limitations. We have experience of recovering spacecraft (which had lost contact) in geostationary orbit. But here (in the case of Vikram), that kind of operational flexibility is not there. Already it's lying on the surface of the Moon, and we cannot reorient it.
Vital thing is antennas will have to point towards the ground station or the orbiter. Such an operation is extremely difficult. At the same time, chances are good and we will have to keep our fingers crossed," the official said.
The official said the lander generating power is not an issue, as it has "solar panels all around it" and it also has "internal batteries" which "are not used much."
Vikram carried three payloads Radio Anatomy of Moon Bound Hypersensitive Ionosphere and Atmosphere (RAMBHA), Chandra's Surface Thermophysical Experiment (ChaSTE) and Instrument for Lunar Seismic Activity (ILSA).
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