New Delhi: After a few tense hours, hopes of Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) soared on Sunday when Chandrayaan-2, which is currently orbiting the Moon, successfully located the Lander, “Vikram”, which deviated from its path early on September 7.
Confirming this ISRO Chief Dr Sivan said the space agency will analyse the images transmitted by Chandrayaan-2. No contact has so far been established with Vikram.
The pictures sent by the main Chandrayaan-2 spacecraft, which is orbiting the Moon from pole-to-pole at an altitude of nearly 100-kms, indicated that the lander was spotted about 500 metres away from its intended touchdown point.
The originally chosen region was about 600 km from the lunar South Pole.
On September 8, Dr Sivan had said that ISRO was trying to restore contact with the lander. He said, “We have found location of the lander Vikram on the lunar surface. The orbiter has clicked its image. We are trying to re-establish contact with it. It would be premature to say anything else at this stage”.
The orbiter is fitted with a fine Orbiter High Resolution Camera of 30cm resolution. A Terrain Mapping Camera-2 is another imager put among the orbiter’s eight payloads.
On September 7, just 12 minutes before its decent onto the lunar surface, the lander lost contact with the Earth. It was believed to have deviated from the path, fallen silent or probably crash-landed on the Moon.
