Adelaide: The Australian Space Agency applauded ISRO for its efforts to place ‘Vikram’ lander of Chandrayaan 2 mission on the moon’s south pole.
“The #VikramLander was just a few kilometres short of realising its mission to the Moon today. To the team at @isro, we applaud your efforts and the commitment to continue our journey into space,” the space agency tweeted.
The #VikramLander was just a few kilometres short of realising its mission to the Moon today. To the team at @isro, we applaud your efforts and the commitment to continue our journey into space. https://t.co/jGhBaVhxAL
— Australian Space Agency (@AusSpaceAgency) September 7, 2019
ISRO had lost contact with Vikram after 12 minutes into its descent from orbit. The lander was passing through the ’15 minutes of terror’ phase that ISRO had earlier said. All the parameters of Vikram was functioning fine and it kept the expected trajectory. However, 12 minutes into the descent and just 2 kms from the surface of the moon, ISRO lost contact with Vikram.
ISRO chairman K Sivan announced that communication with the lander was lost at 2.1 km from the lunar surface.