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AFP
New Delhi
Indian space scientists were desperately trying Tuesday to establish communication with their broken Moon lander, having located the probe that went silent moments before it was due to make a historic soft landing.
The lander, called Vikram -- after the founder of India’s space programme -- was due to touch down on the Moon in the early hours of Saturday, but contact was lost around 2.1 kilometres (1.3 miles) above the surface. The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) tweeted an update on its Chandrayaan-2 (“Moon Vehicle 2”) mission, which blasted off in July with India hoping to become just the fourth country to make a successful soft lunar landing.
“#VikramLander has been located by the orbiter of #Chandrayaan2, but no communication with it yet. All possible efforts are being made to establish communication with lander,” the space agency said. “Unless and until everything is intact, it’s very difficult (to re-establish contact),” PTI quoted an unnamed ISRO official as saying.
“Only if it had a soft landing, and if all systems functioned, could communication can be restored. Things are bleak,” the official said.
The ISRO was not immediately available to comment on the claims.
New Delhi
Indian space scientists were desperately trying Tuesday to establish communication with their broken Moon lander, having located the probe that went silent moments before it was due to make a historic soft landing.
The lander, called Vikram -- after the founder of India’s space programme -- was due to touch down on the Moon in the early hours of Saturday, but contact was lost around 2.1 kilometres (1.3 miles) above the surface. The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) tweeted an update on its Chandrayaan-2 (“Moon Vehicle 2”) mission, which blasted off in July with India hoping to become just the fourth country to make a successful soft lunar landing.
“#VikramLander has been located by the orbiter of #Chandrayaan2, but no communication with it yet. All possible efforts are being made to establish communication with lander,” the space agency said. “Unless and until everything is intact, it’s very difficult (to re-establish contact),” PTI quoted an unnamed ISRO official as saying.
“Only if it had a soft landing, and if all systems functioned, could communication can be restored. Things are bleak,” the official said.
The ISRO was not immediately available to comment on the claims.
