Close to 10 days after Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) spotted Chandrayaan-2’s Vikram lander on the moon, it posted a tweet late on the evening of September 17.
No, the tweet was not about making a connection with Vikram lander; nor did it give any details on the latest developments. Rather, it was a tweet thanking people for their support.
In the tweet, the agency said: “Thank you for standing by us. We will continue to keep going forward — propelled by the hopes and dreams of Indians across the world!”
With just three more days to go before the lunar day ends, experts say that the tweet could mean that ISRO is finally moving on.
What had happened?
Chandrayaan-2, which carried an orbiter, a lander, and a rover, was launched on July 22. The lander – Vikram was expected to make a soft landing on the moon's South Pole on September 7. After the landing, the rover – Pragyan was supposed to maneuver on the moon's surface and conduct studies for one lunar day, or 14 Earth days to study various properties of Earth's natural satellite.
However, the space agency lost connection with the lander during the last phase of the soft landing. After the lander was spotted on September 8, ISRO had 14 days to establish connection with the lander, ending September 21.
Communication with Vikram unlikely
In an informal conversation, an ISRO scientist, who was a part of the team that was working to establish a connection with Vikram, said that doing so is highly unlikely and that ISRO has moved on to working on other projects.
“At this point, making a connection with the lander is unlikely,” the source told Moneycontrol.
On September 8, ISRO confirmed that it had spotted Vikram on the lunar surface and that the team is working towards establishing a connection with the lander. It wasn't the requisite soft landing since the velocity with which Vikram landed was higher than anticipated. ISRO is yet to reveal the velocity of the lander.
The source explained that when the velocity is high, there is no guarantee that transponders, which are needed to make the connection with the ground station, are intact. “The lander was tilted, which means that transponder attached to it might have gotten damaged during the landing, which makes it difficult to make the connection,” the scientist added.
In an earlier interaction with Moneycontrol, former ISRO scientists had elaborated the possibilities and conditions to be met to make the connection. Apart from transponders, the solar panel should be in the right position to catch the sunlight so as to power the lander.
All this had to be done in 14 days after the time of landing. Beyond 14 days, there is no certainty that the lander would be able to survive the extreme weather pattern on the moon’s South Pole. Which leaves ISRO with only three more days.
ISRO is yet to make public its findings so far on what went wrong. According to reports, the team has finalised the analyses and is likely to make the announcement in the coming days.
No time to lose
In the meantime, the space agency has no time to lose given the mission's line up. “We have a lot of projects planned including Aditya, India's first mission to study the Sun, and Gaganyaan – the manned mission to space,” the scientist said.
The launch of Aditya L1 is scheduled for 2019-20. It will observe outer layers of the Sun, called corona, to study how they get heated. The temperature of the corona is a lot higher than that of the Sun's core and scientists have not been able to find an answer to this mystery. The mission will attempt to unravel this phenomenon.
Slated for launch in 2022 and budgeted for Rs 10,000 crore, Gaganyaan is India's most awaited mission. A mission to Venus to study the planet’s atmosphere and surface is also planned for 2023.
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