Indian space agency ISRO lost its lunar moment, earlier today when the ground communications with the Vikram lander were lost just 2.1 km above the lunar surface. ISRO was looking forward to this moment with anticipation since 22nd July when it had launched its Chandrayaan 2, aiming to do a soft landing on the lunar South Pole. The live launch was witnessed by an enthusiastic crowd of around 7000, apart from millions of online viewers, at the Sriharikota Space Station, an island at the eastern coast of India.
The ISRO (Indian Space Research Organization) said: “The Vikram Lander followed the planned descent trajectory from its orbit of 35 km to just below 2 km above the surface. All the systems and sensors of the Lander functioned excellently until this point and proved many new technologies such as variable thrust propulsion technology used in the Lander.”
Kailasavadivoo Sivan, Chairman ISRO had repeatedly referred to the last, long-awaited crucial moments as the “15 minutes of terror”. Sivan also said that the “Data is being analyzed”
The landing was observed live by millions of science enthusiasts across the globe. ISRO also invited 87 students, who had won ISRO Space quiz competition, to observe the historic moment live from Mission Control center at Satish Dhawan Space Center, Sriharikota.
Sivan said that they should “hope for the best” and that this is just a temporary setback and that “Our journey will carry on”.
The United States, Russia, and China are the only nations to have successfully carried out soft landings on the moon. India’s maiden attempt got failed but it made history.
Read Chdrayaan Launch details: https://scientiamag.org/indias-giant-leap-chndryan-2/
Muhammad Abdullah Khan has done bachelors in Chemistry from Government College University
Lahore. He is a science enthusiast and loves to read and write about astronomy, cosmology and latest
scientific endeavors.
