What if we tell you that the Chandrayaan-2 mission is still much alive? Well, hopes have revived again after a Chennai-based techie, in a tip-off to ISRO, said that Chandrayaan-2's rover Pragyan seems to be "intact" on the moon's surface and had rolled out a few meters from Vikram lander.
India's maiden attempt to soft-land on the moon during the Chandrayaan-2 mission failed in September last year, as its spacecraft Vikram 'crash-landed' near the moon's south pole due to a velocity glitch, a top space official said on Wednesday.
Vikram had lost contact with the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) following its launch from Chandraayan-2 moon orbiter on September 6 when it tried to make a soft landing near the moon's south pole.
'No body knows me' is how Shanmuga Subramanian describes himself on his Facebook Page. Come Tuesday morning and world knows that the Chennai man - a Technical Architect at Lennox India Technology Centre has helped NASA and ISRO locate India's - Vikram the Lander. This is Shanmuga's story.
On October 3, Subramanian, a Chennai-based mechanical engineer, had tagged the twitter handles of NASA, LRO and ISRO in a tweet, asking, "Is this Vikram lander? (1 km from the landing spot) Lander might have been buried in Lunar sand?".
The first mosaic image of the likely crash site made from pictures taken by the LROC on September 17 was downloaded by several people to look for signs of the Vikram, NASA said.
Replying to media's query if that if the ISRO would attempt another landing on Moon's south pole, Sivan replied, "Definitely". "We want to demonstrate the technology for Vikram lander landing, We are working on plan of action how to go ahead for Vikram Lander landing," the ISRO Chief informed media, who was in national capital to attend IIT-Delhi 50th convocation ceremony
Replying to media's query if that if the ISRO would attempt another landing on Moon's south pole, Sivan replied, "Definitely".
US Space agency NASA has once again failed to trace Chandrayaan 2's Vikram lander on the lunar surface. A NASA spacecraft clicked photos of the landing site of Vikram earlier this month, but couldn't capture the lander.
On September 7, Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) attempted a soft landing of Vikram on the uncharted lunar south pole, before losing communication with the lander.
The US space agency had earlier said its LRO had passed over the landing site of Vikram on September 17 and acquired a set of high-resolution images of the area.
Noting that ISRO scientists have not given up on contacting the lander nearly a month after they lost contact with it in the early hours of September 7, Devereaux said they need to scan the data they got from it till the link snapped.
The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) is continuing to spring Chandrayaan-2's Vikram Lander to life. ISRO has not given up efforts even after three weeks after Vikram's hard-landing on the lunar surface.
Vikram was scheduled to touch down on September 7. This event was India's first attempt at a soft landing on the Moon.
The sun has set on the Vikram landing site, located near the lunar south pole, and the lander was not designed to survive the frigid, dark lunar night.
Dr. Thakkar said since it involves a large sum of public money, ISRO and those involved must ask difficult questions of themselves beyond just sentimentalism.
The lander was designed to work on the surface of the moon during relative daylight. It was designed for a soft landing but had made a hard landing. To top it all, it had an operational life of 14 earth days, which ended Saturday morning.
The clock is ticking. Time is running. Chances are slim. We may never be able to strike communication with Vikram Lander if not today. Even if Vikram managed survival during its September 7 lunar descent while losing contact with the earth, Vikram Lander's instruments will be frozen out of operation during the cold lunar night of September 21.
In a statement issued after the loss of Vikram on September 7 while landing on the moon, ISRO said a national committee of academicians and ISRO experts are analysing the cause of communication loss with Vikram.
In its latest update on Chandrayaan-2, ISRO said a national-level committee comprising academics and ISRO experts are analysing the cause of communication loss with Vikram Lander ahead of its planned soft landing on the lunar surface.
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