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India loses connection with Moon lander during final descent
India’s Vikram lunar lander lost communication with mission control during the final stage of its descent.
The ISTRAC mission control in Bangalore had just announced that the lander, dubbed Vikram, had it successfully completed the hard breaking maneuver and began fine breaking. Its trajectory appeared to deviate slightly from the optimal projected course.
The descent was proceeding as planned up to the attitude of 2.1 kilometers, when communication was lost, Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) chief K. Sivan announced.
#ISRO Chairman Dr K Sivan says, the powered descent of the lander Vikram has been normal till reaching the altitude of 2.51 km. Subsequently, the communication from the Lander was lost. The reason is being analysed.#Chandrayaan2pic.twitter.com/p5uqsttgH4
— All India Radio News (@airnewsalerts) September 6, 2019
The ISRO is now analyzing the data to determine what happened, Sivan said.
Back in April, Israel’s first-ever lunar lander Beresheet crashed into the stellar body as well.
With India’s failure to deliver the lander to the surface gently enough, the Moon club remains the same – only the former Soviet Union, the US and China have successfully landed a man-made device on the Earth’s satellite so far
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