Bengaluru, September 7
India’s bold bid to become only the fourth country to achieve a soft-landing on the Moon ended in a huge disappointment on Saturday when contact with Chandrayaan-2’s landing module was abruptly lost seconds before it was to descend the final 2.1 km and touch down on the lunar surface.
As crestfallen scientists of the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) here struggled to come to terms with the reverse after Vikram lander was on steady course to touch the lunar south pole, Prime Minister Narendra Modi led the nation in rallying behind them, saying they should not get disheartened and that the nation was with the scientists.
India would have been the only country to land on the Moon’s unexplored south pole as part of the Rs 978-crore Chandrayaan-2 mission conceived a decade ago.
Modi, who addressed the scientists on Saturday morning at the ISRO Mission Control Centre (MCC) complex for the second time in six hours, asserted in words of comfort that there will be a “new dawn and brighter tomorrow” and the “best is yet to come” in the country’s space programme. The nation was proud of the scientists and stood with them, he said.
The process of controlled descent starting with the rough braking of the 1,471-kg lander, its progression to fine braking (till the altitude of 2.1 km), all considered “complex and terrifying”, culminated with a statement that contact with ‘Vikram’ was lost.
While millions of people waited with anticipation to witness the lander’s touchdown after the mission was launched on July 22 to flawlessly cover nearly 4 lakh km in 47 days in multiple manoeuvres, a mood of gloom descended over the control centre after ISRO Chairman K Sivan made a sombre announcement in the presence of the Prime Minister after some tense moments.
“Vikram lander descent was as planned and normal performance was observed up to an altitude of 2.1 km. Subsequently, communication from the lander to ground stations was lost,” said Sivan. “The data is being analysed,” he said at the control centre at the ISRO’s Telemetry, Tracking and Command Network here.
The lander’s progress was greeted with applause at the control centre, where 60 high school students from across the country were also present.
The last 15 minutes of the mission when the lander attempts to guide itself with the help of its own propulsion system without any support from ground control has repeatedly been described by Sivan as “15 minutes of terror”.
A senior official said the lander and the rover ‘Pragyan’ housed inside that was planned for a roll-out between 5.30 am and 6.30 am may have been lost. If ‘Vikram’ had pulled off the historic touchdown, the country could have joined the US, Russia and China in soft-landing on the lunar surface. — PTI
What may have gone wrong?
Just before the link was lost, Vikram lander tumbled but recovered immediately, losing position in its trajectory. The tumble may have been caused by uneven functioning of its throttleable engines. Also, it may have lost control when thrusters were switched off during descent. The vehicle loses its stability if the thrusters do not work in unison, say ISRO officials.
Lander’s final moments
1.38 am Vikram lander begins descent from altitude of 30 km at 1,680 m/s velocity. Rough braking ops gradually bring down velocity
1.50 am Fine braking phase begins at altitude of 5 km. Lander briefly veers from plotted path
1.51 am Two minutes before planned touchdown time, lander again deviates and link gets snapped
1.53 am Silence envelops the mission control centre. Minutes tick by but there is no contact with lander
1.57 am ISRO Chairman K Sivan gets up from his seat. Later, briefs PM Modi about the problem
2.10 am Sivan says lander worked as per plan till it was
2.1 km from the landing spot when link got snapped
from The Tribune https://ift.tt/2UEaEyt
via Today’s News Headlines
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