ISRO’s Chandrayaan 2 lost communication in an attempt to make a soft landing on the surface of the Moon which could have made India the fourth country after the United States, Russia, and China to land on the Lunar surface and the first to land on the South Pole of the Moon.
“Vikram” Lander of the Chandrayaan 2 failed to make the soft landing at its target location high plain between two craters Manzinus C and Simpelius N — at a latitude of about 70° South of the Moon on 7th September 2019 after the Lander Descent started at 1:30 AM (IST) but the connections were lost when the lander was dropping to land before 2.13 kilometers.
Update: Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) confirmed to the lawmakers in the report that Vikram lander hard-landed within 500 meters of its designated landing site in an attempt to soft-land on the lunar surface.
The orbiter is still in connection with ISRO and it has a mission life of 1 year and it will continue its mission.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi was present at the ISRO Centre in Bengaluru, Karnataka to watch the live landing of the “Vikram” Lander on the Lunar Surface.
Live Streaming of the Chandrayaan 2 Landing:
Chandrayaan 2, second Moon mission of ISRO after the Chandrayaan 1 in 2009 was launched from the 2nd launch pad at the Satish Dhawan Space Centre, Sriharikota on July 22nd, 2019 using the GSLV MkIII-M1 launcher after one week delay which was called off just 56 minutes before the launch on July 15th, 2019.
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Timeline of the Chandrayaan 2 Mission:
June 18 – Chandrayaan 2 Announcement
July 15 – Launch was called off just 56 minutes before due to a technical snag.
July 18 – Rescheduled date (22nd July 2019) for the launch announced
July 22 – Chandrayaan 2 successfully launched from Satish Dhawan Space Centre, Sriharikota.
July 24 – First earthbound maneuver
July 26 – Second earthbound maneuver
July 29 – Third earthbound maneuver
August 02 – Fourth earthbound maneuver
August 04 – First set of Earth images captured by Vikram Lander
August 06 – Fifth earthbound maneuver
August 20 – Chandrayaan 2 successfully inserted the Lunar Orbit
August 21 – Second Lunar Orbit Maneuver
August 28 – Third Lunar Orbit Maneuver
August 30 – Fourth Lunar Orbit Maneuver
September 1st – Fifth Lunar Orbit Maneuver
September 2nd – Vikram Lander successfully separates from Orbiter
September 2nd – Vikram Lander to land on Lunar surface between 1:30 am to 2:30 am on Saturday, September 07, 2019 announcement
September 3rd – First de-orbiting maneuver
September 4th – Second de-orbiting maneuver
September 7th – Vikram Lander lost connection with ISRO after reaching 2.1km above the Lunar surface while attempting to soft-land on the Moon.
September 8th – ISRO Chief Dr. K Sivan said ISRO has retrieved images and located the lander Vikram on the moon and is analyzing them for a clear picture of the lander’s condition.
September 10th – No connection with the lander made yet.
September 19th – All payloads of the orbiter powered and are running properly and a national committee is analyzing the cause of communication loss with the Vikram lander.
October 4th – Orbital High-Resolution Camera (OHRC) sends very high spatial images of the lunar surface.
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