Even though the fate and the status of Vikram India's moon lander is not known - whether it crash-landed or the communication link got cut - all is not lost as far as the Rs 978 crore Chandrayaan-2 mission is concerned, an ISRO official said on Saturday, 7 September.
ISRO chief K Sivan, after the setback said that despite the mission performing perfectly till the second last stage of descent - fine braking phase, but lost communication at around 2.1 kms away from the lunar surface.
An ISRO official told news agency IANS that with the loss of the Vikram lander, only 5 percent of the mission is lost, since the orbiter will stay there for another year, at least.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who was also present to witness the moon landing from the Bengaluru control room, told the scientists to not get dejected with this setback. Wishing them all the best, PM Modi said that the whole nation is proud of this feat.
“Be courageous and hope for the best.”Prime Minister Narendra Modi
The lander, after its fine braking phase, was supposed to go into the vertical landing phase, which would have been the last stage before the final landing. However, the communication link between the Vikram lander and the orbiter got snapped as the former was descending towards the moon's South Pole early on Saturday, throwing suspense over the mission's fate.
Former ISRO chairman, D Sasikumar, told news agency ANI that according to him, the lander might not have crashed since a link was established between the Vikram lander and the Pragyan rover.
(With inputs from ANI and IANS)
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