We have also failed: NASA’s words of encouragement for ISRO

File image of Chandrayaan 2 (Image: Twitter/ISRO)

Extending emotional support to India’s space agency, which is still licking the wounds of its failed Moon mission, United State space agency NASA’s scientist Tom Soderstrom encouraged the scientific community in the country to embark on their future missions with equal vigour and confidence.

The chief innovation and technology official at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Lab stressed that scientists at the Indian Space Research Organisation should not be deterred by the failed landing of the Vikram lander on the lunar surface. He urged them to make several attempts at it, till they succeed because that is the only way to succeed. Soderstrom added that space missions are bound to fail, as per a report by The Economic Times

The NASA scientist was referring to India’s second moon mission – Chandrayaan 2, which was supposed to make a soft landing on the dark side of the Moon on September 7, 2019. However, the space agency failed to establish any contact with the mission’s lander, starting minutes before its touchdown. With so many people’s hopes and dreams pinned on this, the failure left the entire nation forlorn and dealt a major blow to the space agency’s confidence as well.

Soderstrom consoled ISRO and reassured that landing a rover is indeed a rather difficult task. “So, we get super nervous every single time. We never know if it’s going to work there, one little thing goes wrong and the whole thing could fail,” he said.

The scientist added: “I wouldn’t lose heart just because we lost one or two rovers. When we went to the Moon, it failed multiple times, but eventually, it worked. You learn.”

Meanwhile, ISRO has already overcome its loss and begun focussing on its second mission to Mars in 2022-23 and its Venus mission in 2023.